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BR  125  .H34  1871 
Hall,  John,  1829-1898. 
i  Papers  for  home  reading 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2010  witii  funding  from 

Princeton  Tiieological  Seminary  Library 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/papersforliomerea1871liall 


PAP  E  RS 


FOR  HOME  READING. 


Rev.    JOHN    HALL,  D.D. 

PASTOR  OF  THE  FIFTH  AVENTXE  PEKSBTTERIAN  CHUKCH,  NEW  TOEK. 


NEW    YORK: 

DoDD  &  Mead,  762  Broadway, 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871, 

Bj'   DoDD   &  Mead, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


EDWARD  0.  JENKINS, 
rRJXTER  AND  STEREOTYPES, 
NO.  20  N.  WILLIAM  STREET,  N.  T. 


CONTENTS. 


Temper  at  Home, 


II. 


'  The  Virtuous  Woman," 


17 


III. 

How  She  Kept  the  Fifth  Commandment, 

IV. 
"  Be  Strong,"      ..... 

V. 

"  The  Bars  of  a  Castle,"  .  .  . 

VI. 

A  Life-Story,  in  Six  Short  Chapters,    .  . 

VII, 

Shining  Lights,  ..... 


28 


45 


63 


62 


71 


VIIL 

The  Question  Every  One  Should  Ask, 


(iii) 


iv  CONTENTS. 

IX. 

The  Story  of  the  Greek  Testament,      .  .  .102 

X. 

Family  Religion,  .  .  ,  ,  .118 

XI. 

The  Poisoned  Cup,        .  .  .  ,      '       .        129 

XII. 
A  Safe  Condition,  .  .  .  ,  •        ^59 

XIII. 
The  Crisis  and  the  Cry,  ....         172 

XIV. 

Companion  Pictures  from  an  Old  Master,      .  .        189 

XV. 
Why  Are  There  So  Few  Conversions?  .  .        209 

XVI. 
A  Call  to  the  Careless,  ....        218 

XVII. 
Life  in  Christ,     ....  .        225 

XVIII. 

The   Place  of  Repentance  in  the  Experience  of  a 

Christian,  .....        239 

XIX. 

What  is  the  Gospel,        .....         249 


CONTENTS.  V 

XX. 

Hinderances  to  Personal  Religion,      .  .  .        263 

XXI. 

Discrimination  in  Teaching  the  Truth,  •  .         275 

XXII. 
Plain  Questions  for  Men's  Consciences,  .  .        288 

XXIII. 
Are  Believers  Under  the  Law?  .  .  .        297 

XXIV. 
Manner:  A  Homily  for  "  Self  and  Friends,"  .  .        309 

XXV. 

Pastors  and  Teachers,    .....        318 

XXVI. 
The  Battle  of  Armageddon,      ....        333 

XXVII. 

Be  Ready  to  Die,  .  .  .  .  •        349 


PREFATORY    NOTE. 


EN  years  ago  the  churches  in  Ire- 
land felt  the  influence  of  that  re- 
vived religion  which  had  already  at- 
tracted notice  in  America.  The 
result  was  seen  in  the  fresh  examination  of 
many  truths  that  had  been  accepted  without 
Inquiry  so  long  as  little  interest  was  felt  in 
them,  and  also  in  occasional  divergence  of 
earnest  but  imperfectly  instructed  people 
from  the  old  paths. 

At  the  same  time  the  relations  of  the 
churches  to  the  state,  and  to  one  another,  be- 
came the  topic  of  lively  discussion ;  and  it 
was  easy  to  foresee  the  need  of  intelligence, 
self-reliance,  and  a  definite  policy  at  no  re- 
mote futui-e. 

Impressed  by  these  facts,  the  Vv-ritcr  of  the 

(5) 


«  PRE  FA  TOR  Y  NO  TE. 

following  pages  was  led  to  issue  a  magazine 
for  the  discussion  of  purely  moral  and  re- 
ligious questions.  Offers  of  pecuniary  aid 
were  declined,  so  that  it  might  be  wholly 
under  his  own  control,  for  the  examination 
of  such  subjects,  and  in  such  style,  as  were 
adapted  to  the  times  and  the  people  addressed. 
The  serial  continues  to  render  good  public 
service  under  the  able  editorship  of  the  Rev. 
T.  Y.  Killen,  Belfast. 

From  the  editorial  contributions  to  its 
pages  the  following  papers  are  selected,  not 
because  they  possess  any  peculiarity  of  view 
or  attraction  of  style — for  in  all  of  them  adap- 
tation to  the  readers  was  more  thought  of 
than  literary  finish — but  because  it  is  believed 
that  there  is  yet  room  for  such  a  volume,  a 
chapter  of  which,  complete  in  itself,  could  be 
read  aloud  in  a  family,  or  by  an  individual,  irl 
one  of  those  brief  intervals  where  a  continu- 
ous work  would  not  be  entered  upon. 

The  means  of  home-happiness ;  the  perils 
from  intemperance,  mammon -worship,  and 
neglect  of  the  great  salvation ;  the  definite 
"and  saving  truths  of  which  Christ  is  the  cen- 
ter ;  the  facts  of  true  religious  experience ; 
the  future  of  the  soul,  and  of  the  church ; 
these  are  the  topics  touched  upon,  by  no 
means  exhaustively  or  ambitiously,  but  it  is 


PRE  FA  TOR  V  NO  TE.  7 

hoped  intelligibly  to  those  who  read  and 
think  upon  such  momentous  affairs. 

With  the  single  exception  of  "  How  she 
kept  the  Fifth  Commandment,"  which  the 
editor  of  the  Nczu  York  Ledger  thought  likely 
to  do  good  to  his  readers,  and  reprinted  with 
acknowledgment  of  its  source,  none  of  these 
papers  have  appeared  in  America.  They  are 
meant  to  urge  the  common  truth  and  the 
common  interests  without  denominational  pe- 
culiarity. 

It  is  impossible,  however,  that  they  should 
be  without  traces  of  the  region  in  which  they 
were  first  issued,  and  the  conditions  of  mind 
to  which  they  were  addressed  ;  but  the  writer 
remembers  with  lively  satisfaction  how  many 
of  his  countrymen  in  America  will  recognize 
these  very  features,  and  recall  the  memories 
of  a  land  that  can  never  be  forgotten  by  its 
children. 

The  "  Scotch-Irish" — to  whom,  had  it  not 
been  presumptuous,  he  v;ould  gladly  have 
dedicated  the  collection — have  learnt  to  value 
Christian  truth  and  duty ;  and  the  writer, 
glad  to  be  identified  with  them,  v/ishes  no 
better  reward  than  that  some  of  them  should 
say  to  their  children,  "  These  are  the  truths 
we  learnt  at  home  ;  may  they  ever  guide  you 
as  Amejican  citizens." 


8  PREFA  TOR  Y  XO  TE. 

It  is  only  added,  in  conclusion,  that  ten 
years'  study  of  the  Bible  and  intercourse  with 
men  have  not  modified  any  of  the  views  here 
presented,  but  rather  deepened  the  convic- 
tion that  for  substance  they  are  true,  and  vital 
to  the  best  interests  of  men,  on  either  side  of 
the  Atlantic. 


PLAIN  PAPERS 


FOR     HOME      READING 


TEMPER   AT   HOME. 


O  reside  on  a  volcano-side,  not  well 
knowing  but  that  you  may  be  thrown 
up,  or  thrown  down  some  early  morn- 
ing, is  not  pleasant  to  think  of,  though 
some  do  it,  as  the  ramblers  by  Vesuvius  and 
Etna  will  tell  you.  A  few  years  ago  a  ship 
of  war  found  the  sea  heaving  in  a  most  indec- 
orous manner  round  her  anchorage,  and  the 
town  close  by  swinging  about  in  a  surpris- 
ing way,  till  at  length  the  throes  of  the 
scene  ended  in  the  upheaval  of  a  few  black 
patches  of  rock  in  the  bay,  and  the  sailors 
r-  (9) 


10  TEMPER  A  T  HOME. 

began  to  fear  that  their  ship  might  be  left 
high  and  dry  on  the  bare  back  of  one  of 
these  baby -islands.  Like  unto  these  expe- 
riences, but  in  another  way,  is  the  life  of 
many  persons  who  might  have  very  happy 
homes.  There  are  smouldering  volcanoes  in 
the  temper  of  father  or  mother,  or  other  im- 
portant member  of  the  house,  and  the  most 
trifling  circumstances  bring  them  into  start- 
ling activity.  As,  when  the  carving  knife  at 
dinner  is  a  little  blunt  and  the  gentleman 
sweeps  off  into  a  magnificent  generalization 
to  the  timid  occupant  of  the  opposite  chair : 
"  Well,  Jane,  I  never  get  a  sharp  knife  in  this 
house  !"  as  if  all  other  houses  v/ere  furnished 
with  the  m.ost  perfect  cutlery  that  never 
needed  an  edge,  and  as  if  she,  the  gentlest 
of  wives,  had  purposely  blunted  that  very 
knife  just  before  dinner!  Storms  purify  the 
outer  air,  but  they  desolate  and  destroy  with- 
in the  dwelling,  and  there  are  many  storms 
short  of  tumbling  the  tea-things  in  a  broken 
heap  off  the  table,  or  leaving  the  family  meal 
in  a  torrent  of  tears;  storms  of  short  fitful 
blasts,  sharp,  bitter  words,  ill-natured  and  re- 


TEMPER  A  T  HOME.  n 

sentful  reflections,  tormenting  and 'vexatious 
fault-finding  that  provokes  children  and  ser- 
vants to  wrath  ;  all  which  wise,  not  to  say- 
pious,  Christian  people,  ought  to  watch, 
strive,  and  pray  against,  for  their  own,  their 
children's,  their  neighbors'  sakes,  and  above 
all  for  Christ's  sake. 

A  handful  of  snow  is  a  beautiful  thing,  soft, 
or  sparkling,  as  the  case  may  be,  outside  ;  but 
very  damp  and  disagreeable  by  the  fireside. 
And  there  are  domestic  snow-balls — soft  as 
wool,  or  sparkling  as  gems  outside — "  pleas- 
ant-spoken, nice  men  ;"  who  leave  all  that 
aside  as  they  wipe  their  feet  (if  they  do  tha{), 
at  their  own  door ;  and  who  become  cheer- 
less, cold,  and  depressing  the  moment  their 
shadow  falls  on  their  own  hearth.  The  poor 
mother  instantly  goes  "  on  her  good  behav- 
iour;" the  children  cease  to  be  natural  and 
put  on  their  humble  looks,  the  dog  and  cat 
retire  to  the  corner  farthest  from  him  with  an 
expression  which,  rightly  interpreted,  says 
plainly,  "  It's  all  up,  now  !"  Surely  this  is  the 
way  to  unmake  happy  homes.  Come  now, 
my  dear  friend,  let  me  talk  to  you.     If  there 


12  TEMPER  A  T  HOME 

is  a  pleasant  word  in  your  mouth  in  the  twen- 
ty-four hours,  do  say  it  to  that  hard-workifig 
woman  whom  you  vowed  to  "  cherish  " — to 
cherish,  mind,  not  only  to  proride  for  and  all 
that,  but  to  CHERISH.  And  those  little  boys 
and  girls  that  are  hungry  for  "  petting  "  and 
affection  from  you,  cannot  vou  make  out  any 
little  manly  pleasantry  forthem  ?  They  are  not 
culprits,  of  whom  you  are  the  jailor.  Why,  they 
are  your  own  children,  with  young  hearts  in 
their  bosoms,  to  whom  home  ought  to  be  the 
dearest  place,  and  father  the  best  man  in  the 
whole  world — "  father,"  the  nam^e  and  the  ob- 
ject by  which  their  child's  heart  ought  to  climb 
up  to  the  notion  of  our  Father  in  heaven  I  If 
you  had  trouble  and  toil  outside — as  who  has 
not  ?  which  gathered  your  brows  and  set  your 
lips  during  the  day,  lay  off  the  load  when  you 
lay  oflf  your  coat,  and  let  your  presence  make 
a  little  holiday  in  the  dwelling.  You  are  the 
strongest,  most  commanding  person  there — 
the  husband  or  house-band  knitting  all  to- 
gether. Well,  bind  them  together  not  with 
the  cold  hard  grip  of  iron,  but  with  the  silken 
cords   of    human    lore.      Brighten    up ;    and 


TEMPER  A  T  HOME.  13 

speak  cheerily :' very  lean  wit  will  be  applaud- 
ed in  a  good-humored  circle  :  and  your  kindly 
speech  will  awaken  kindly  echoes  all  through 
the  dwelling.'  Then  the  house  will  miss  you 
when  you  are  out,  and  every  living  thing  in 
it  will  welcome  your  return.  You  will  give 
a  happy,  healthy,  lively  tone  to  the  whole 
circle,  and  save  tears,  time,  and  medical  at- 
tendance. 

It  has  been  said  that  great  men  speak  of 
things,  little  men  of  persons.  Certainly  gos- 
sipping,  slander,  and  scandal  are  more  likely 
to  occur  where  persons  are  under  discussion 
than  on  the  other  plan.  There  is  a  process 
of  education  constantly  going  on  in  any  dwell- 
ing which  care  and  thought  can  majce  an  un- 
speakable advantage,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
contribute  to  make  a  happy  home.  To  keep 
objects  of  pure  and  high  interest  before  the 
children's  minds,  in  a  natural  and  suitable 
way — to  have  them  supplied  with  such  books 
as  will  occupy  and  interest — to  talk  not  so 
much  to  them  as  zvitJi  them  about  objects — to 
take  note  of  and  encourage  any  advance  they 
make,  and  to  direct  the  flow  not  of  a  part  of — 


14  TEMPER  A  T  HOME. 

but  of  the  zvholc  of  their  life — physical,  mental, 
moral,  without  apparent  interference  or  vio- 
lence ;  this  happy  art — to  be  sought,  prayed 
for,  labored  for — under  God's  blessing  goes 
far  to  make  a  happy  home.  Neither  wealth 
nor  high  education  is  needed  to  do  this.  The 
tastes  of  children  are  naturally  simple.  Your 
child's  wooden  gun,  cut  with  your  own  hand, 
perhaps,  and  made  a  link  of  connection  be- 
tween your  little  boy  and  you,  may  be  more 
to  him,  more  influential  over  his  character, 
more  potent  in  binding  his  heart  to  you  while 
living,  his  memory  to  you.  when  you  are  dead, 
than  a  costly  gift,  that  had  nothing  to  say  to 
yoii,  but  that  you  ordered  it  at  the  store.  And 
when  you,  living  a  loving,  natural  life  before 
your  children,  and  with  them,  bend  the  knee 
in  their  midst  and  speak  to  God  of  them,  and 
of  yourself,  and  of  the  friends  they  know  to 
be  in  joy  or  sorrow,  there  is  a  most  blessed 
education  going  on — there  is  a  powerful  res- 
traint being  put  on  natural  evil,  there  is  a 
pleasant  tvpe  of  heaven  where  the  whole 
family  that  is  named  after  Jesus  shall  be  gath- 
ered together. 


TEMPER  A  T  HOME.  15 

We  would  not  willingly  convey  the  impres- 
sion that  all  the  good  feeling  is  to  be  on  the 
side  of  the  father,  for  much  might  be  said  to 
wives  and  others  on  the  influence  of  temper 
and  tone  in  making  home  happy.  Meantime 
my  fancy  roams  through  dwellings  into  which 
I  have  peeped,  into  quiet  "  parlors  ''  where 
the  carpet  is  clean  and  not  old,  and  the  furni- 
ture polished  and  bright;  into  "  rooms  "  where 
the  chairs  are  deal  and  the  floor  carpetless ; 
into  "  kitchens "  where  the  family  live,  and 
the  meals  are  cooked  and  eaten,  and  the  boys 
and  girls  are  as  blithe  as  the  sparrows  in  the 
thatch  overhead,  and  I  see  that  it  is  not  so 
much  wealth,  nor  learning,  nor  clothing,  nor 
servants,  nor  toil,  nor  idleness,  nor  town,  nor 
.  country,  nor  rank,  nor  station — as  tone  and 
temper  that  make  life  joyous  or  miserable, 
that  render  homes  happy  or  wretched.  And 
I  see,  too,  that  in  town  or  country,  in  Ulster 
or  Leinster,  in  Europe  or  America,  God's 
grace  and  good  sense  make  life  what  no 
teachers,  or  accomplishments,  or  means,  or 
society,  can  make  it,  the  opening  stave  of  an 
everlasting  psalm,   the  fair  beginning  of  an 


l6 


TEMPER  A  T  HOME. 


endless  existence,  the  goodly,  modest,  well- 
proportioned  vestibule  to  a  temple  of  God's 
building,  that  shall  never  decay,  wax  old,  or 
vanish  away. 


"THE   VIRTUOUS    WOMAN.' 


(a  study  of  proverbs  xxxi.  10-31.) 


F  the  two  contributions  to  Inspired 
Writ  from  females,  one  is  a  song 
and  the  other  an  acrostic.  Over 
the  beaten  foe  and  the  headless 
general  sang  Deborah  her  song,  after  the 
manner  of  the  time.  And  with  true  motherly- 
care  was  Lemuel  counselled,  as  you  read  in 
Prov.  xxxi.  10-31,  and  the  ideal  of  a  true 
godly  woman — true  woman  and  true  saint — 
sketched  for  him.  And  after  the  manner  of 
Him  who  gave  us  the  Bible,  with  its  variety, 
human  character,  and  life  likeness,  by  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Holy  Ghost,  both  the  one 
and  the  other  become  good  teachers,  and 
their  words  are  put  here  for  our  encourage- 

(•7) 


I8  "THE   VIRTUOUS  WOMAN:' 

ment  and  guidance.  Not  that  modern  ma- 
trons are  to  drive  spikes  into  the  heads  of 
hostile  leaders.  That  was  according  to  the 
fashion  of  the  time,  as  it  was  in  Lemuel's  days 
for  them  to  buy  flax  and  wool  and  manufac- 
ture them  with  their  own  fair  hands.  An 
intelligent  reader  of  this  beautiful  ode  will 
know  how  to  distinguish  between  the  oi.it- 
ward  and  circumstantial  which  belongs  to 
the  time,  and  the  real  and  essential  which 
belongs  to  all  time. 

A  sad  puzzle  has  this  "  virtuous  woman  " 
been  to  many.  "  It  is  the  Spouse  of  Christ," 
cries  Ambrose  ;  and  the  more  sensible  Augus- 
tine nearly  agrees  with  him.  "  It  is  the  Virgin 
Mary,"  says  the  Spaniard ;  though  it  requires 
a  long  attachment  to  Mariolatry  to  make  out 
the  resemblance  to  her  whose  bosom  a  sword 
was  to  pierce  through,  and  whose  husband 
was  a  carpenter.  The  truth  is,  this  chapter 
is  sorely  controversial  and  decided  against 
his  system.  Its  "  virtuous  woman,"  whose 
price  is  above  rubies,  is  not  a  lady  abbess, 
nor  a  "  Sister  of  Mercy,"  nor  a  recluse  of  any 
kind  whatever,  but  a  good,  true  wife,  a  pru- 


''THE   VIRTUOUS  WOMAN r  19 

dent  mistress  in  her  own  house,  and  the 
mother  of  boys  and  girls  who  will  rise  up 
and  call  her  blessed. 

Asceticism  has  no  place  here.  See  this 
type  of  womanly  worth  among  the  common 
duties  of  daily  life.  Sensible,  judicious,  and 
painstaking,  she  fills  her  place  adequately — 
nothing  is  forgotten  or  marred  in  the  doing. 
Her  husband's  mind  is  at  ease  about  her  part 
of  the  business.  He  leaves  his  door  with  a 
light  heart,  for  all  will  be  right  in  his  absence. 
He  is  strong  abroad  for  he  is  happy  at  home ; 
and  when  he  returns,  her  words  and  ways  are 
a  continual  feast.  She  is  a  blessing  to  him 
while  she  lives.  He  has  no  need  to  stoop 
to  mean  shifts  and  dishonest  tricks  to  keep 
things  going.  The  candle  is  not  burning  at 
both  ends.  While  he  is  working,  she  is  not 
wasting.     ''  He  shall  have  no  need  of  spoil." 

"  Man  must  work,"  says  our  great  poet. 
Why,  she  is  as  industrious  as  he  is !  Her 
skilful  hands  have  deftly  shapen  the  goodly 
garment  and  the  costly  ornament,  and  the 
produce  of  them  is  on  his  table.  Early  morn 
finds  her  at  her  post,  and  her  domestics  have 


20  "  THE   VIRTUOUS  WOMANr 

each  a  place  and  a  work  for  the  day,  and  each 
knows  her  work.  As  for  the  men-servants, 
that  is  his  affair  —  she  minds  her  maidens. 
Not  that  she  cannot  look  outside  her  dwel- 
ling, for  she  has  thorough  sympathy  with  her 
husband  in  all  things.  There  is  a  field  just 
bordering  their  inheritance,  and  she  hears  it 
will  soon  be  in  the  market.  She  keeps  the 
thing  to  herself  till  the  right  time,  and  then 
proposes  to  her  husband  to  buy  it.  But 
where  is  the  money  ?  She  has  a  modest 
store,  the  quiet  savings  of  years,  and  she 
sees  where  the  balance  of  the  price  can  be 
saved,  and  the  glad  husband  buys  the  field. 
Pass  by  it  in  a  few  years,  and  it  is  turned  into 
a  smiling  orchard,  at  once  the  ornament  and 
the  wealth  of  the  place.  But  this  does  not 
interfere  with  her  womanly  tasks.  Her  hands 
ply  the  needle  and  cut  the  garments  for  her 
household.  You  may  see  the  twinkle  of  her 
candle  in  the  window  by  night,  as  she  puts 
things  in  readiness  for  to-morrow's  labors. 
No  dignity  is  lost  amid  these  mechanical 
home-toils.  Did  not  Alexander  the  Great 
show   with   pride  to   the  Persian   princesses 


"  THE   VIRTUOUS  WOMAN."  21 

the  garments  his  queenly  mother  had 
made?  Did  not  Augustus  wear  the  clothes 
his  own  family  had  fashioned  ?  Did  not 
Lucretia  spin  among  her  maidens  ?  And 
Catherine  of  Arragon  and  Catherine  Parr, 
are  not  the  works  of  their  hands  to  be 
seen  to  this  day  ?  Could  we  not  name  the 
man,  old  and  white-headed  now,  indeed,  who 
went  forth  to  fight  the  battle  of  life  in  a  toga 
virilis,  which,  from  the  wool  to  the  wearing, 
was  home-made  ?  These  were  the  natural 
employments  of  the  olden  time  (when  the  wool 
was  not  Berlin,  nor  the  needles  crochet),  that 
exercised  the  skill  of  tender  maidens  and  of 
prudent  matrons. 

Is  this  a  strong-minded,  bustling  woman, 
merely  doing  well  for  her  family  ?  No.  Femi- 
nine energy  without  feminine  softness  is  not 
lovely.  But  the  virtuous  woman  has  a  breast 
to  pity  and  a  hand  to  help.  To  see  her  test- 
ing her  merchandise — for  she  will  do  her  own 
business,  and  not  depend  on  others — you 
might  think  her  hard.  But  follow  her  to  the 
Dorcas  Society,  or,  better  still,  at  home  on  a 
forenoon,  when  the  house  has  been  settled  up, 


22  "  THE   VIRTUOUS  WOMAN." 

as  she  gives  audience  to  her  poor  friends,  and 
with  gentle,  clever  wisdom,  helps  them  with 
their  little  difficulties,  and  jou  shall  see  how 
soft  she  is  to  pity,  and  how  skilful  to  aid  and 
soothe.  "  She  stretcheth  out  her  hand  to  the 
poor,  yea  she  reacheth  forth  her  hand  to  the 
needy."  Hers  is  no  stately  munificence  to  be 
put  in  the  newspapers,  but  gentle,  timely, 
kindly  charity,  that  wins  the  heart  as  it  warms 
the  limbs.  For  no  one  can  charge  her  with 
ostentatious  bountifulness,  or  sneer  at  her, 
and  say  that  "  charity  begins  at  home."  Her 
household  are  provided  for.  Winter  may 
come  when  it  pleases,  for  them.  She  has 
made  timely  provision  for  the  snow,  and  can 
lay  her  hand  on  the  ready  warm  clothing 
when  it  is  wanted. 

No  wonder  her  servants  love  her.  You 
might  think  her  indeed  severe  and  stern 
among  them,  for  "  she  looketh  well  to  the 
ways  of  her  household  ; "  and  they  are  all 
the  better  and  the  happier  for  her  over- 
sight. There  would  be  fewer  bad  servants  if 
there  were  more  good  mistresses  ;  and  you 
might  hear  young  girls  say  as  they  spoke  of 


"  THE  VIRTUOUS  IVOMANr  23 

her,  "She  was  like  a  mother  to  me."  She 
was  firm,  it  is  true ;  but  she  was  never  harsh. 
Her  tongue  spoke  what  her  heart  felt,  and 
"the  law  of  kindness  ruled  it."  Hers  was  no 
mere  impulse  of  good-nature.  People  had  not 
to  watch  for  the  humor  to  ask  the  coveted 
favor.  She  was  not  "  rough  spoken,  and  un- 
certain, but  a  kindly  creature  at  heart."  The 
"  law  of  kindness  "  was  obeyed  by  her  as  much 
as  the  law  of  gravitation  by  the  moon.  Calm 
and  quiet,  gentle  in  manner  and  firm  in  duty, 
she  rejoices  in  the  hopes  of  the  future.  Hers 
is  no  sluggish  and  torpid  life,  buried  in  the 
cold  narrow  grave  of  the  present.  A  light 
burns  in  her  heart  and  kindles  in  her  eye  that 
throws  its  radiance  over  all  the  future — the 
rest  of  her  life — the  life  of  her  children  and 
her  children's  children  ;  and  away  beyond 
these,  that  endless  life  whose  \oy  and  rest, 
believing,  she  can  balance  against  the  cares 
and    sorrows   of    the   world   of    duty. 

Her  bearing  like  her  raiment  befits  her  sta- 
tion. Her  character  is  daily  growing  strong- 
er, and  habits  of  goodness  are  daily  becoming 
fixed  ;  her  influence  is  daily  extending,  and  it 


24  "  THE   VIRTUOUS  WOMAN r 

is  all  for  good.  Her  voice  follows  her  husband 
along  his  path,  and  her  smile  remembered 
lights  up  his  way.  He  is  a  stronger  man  for 
her — a  *'  two-handed  man,"  as  the  far-away  Is- 
landers called  the  married  missionary ;  and 
any  one  who  has  eyes  may  know  as  he  does 
his  business  on  the  Exchange,  in  the  Bank,  or 
the  market  that  he  is  a  well-to-do,  comfortable, 
and  prosperous  man,  who  has  a  prudent  help- 
mate at  home,  a  strength  and  honor  to  her 
husband,  a  queen  in  her  own  domain,  but  to 
him  at  once  a  faithful  counselor  and  a  true 
ally :  and  when  the  bloom  has  gone  from  her 
cheek  and  the  silver  threads  are  all  through 
her  hair,  her  children  rising  up  and  feeling 
the  value  of  her  love  and  care,  when,  going 
away  to  their  own  battle  of  life  they  miss 
them,  will  bless  her  dear  name  ;  and  her 
happy  husband,  as  he  hears  of  their  prosper- 
ity, will  say,  "  Under  God's  blessing  they  owe 
it  all  to  their  mother."  She  was  not  without 
beauty.  Her  step  had  grace,  and  her  voice, 
as  it  is  still,  was  soft  and  sweet ;  but  not  these 
now- -not  these,  but  love  and  gentleness,  and 
meek  wisdom,  and  self-denying  energy  have 


"THE  VIRTUOUS  WOMAN."  25 

been  her  womanly  attractions,  and  have  laid 
the  foundations  of  her  credit.  "  Favor  is  de- 
ceitful and  beauty  is  vain ;"  how  often  has  it 
fled  before  the  small-pox !  ''  But  a  woman 
that  feareth  the  Lord  she  shall  be  praised." 

Yes,  that  is  the  root  of  the  whole  matter. 
Describe  a  tree  and  you  may  begin  at  the 
thousand  fibres  that  suck  life  from  the  soil 
and  send  it  creeping  upward  by  a  thousand 
channels,  and  till  it  oozes  out  in  buds  and 
leaves,  blossoms  and  blushing  fruit ;  or  you 
may  begin  with  the  glossy  leaves  and  ra- 
diant blossoms,  and  go  downward  through 
spreading  branches  and  stately  stem  till  you 
come  to  the  root  again.  The  latter  is  the 
plan  of  Lemuel's  mother,  as  she  outlines  this 
"tree  of  righteousness."  The  "fear  of  the 
Lord  "  in  the  heart — that  is  the  root ;  and  all 
this  energy  and  tenderness,  all  this  patient 
doing  of  duty,  all  this  gentle  and  unselfish 
love,  all  this  quiet,  seemly,  home-labor, 
all  this  occupying  of  the  station  that  the 
Lord  gave,  are  the  true  and  proper  develop- 
ment, the  expression  and  manifestations,  of 
that  life  kindled  by  God  in  the  heart.  "Who 
3 


26  "  THE   VIRTUOUS  WOMAN." 

can  find  a  virtuous  woman  ?"  Who  searches 
for  her?  Beauty,  accomplishments,  wealth, 
and  connections — these  are  sought  and  found  ; 
but  such  quiet,  unpretending  goodness  as  this 
makes  no  sensation,  creates  no  stir,  attracts 
no  common  admirers.  To  be  somebody  in 
the  gay  world  or — abominable  ambition  ! — in 
the  religious  world  ;  to  dazzle  or  to  charm  the 
public  e3^e  ;  to  overwhelm  with  splendor  and 
magnificence :  these  are  objects  of  common 
enough  ambition  to  one  sex,  and  of  common 
enough  attraction  to  the  other.  Not  thus 
would  Lemuel's  mother  have  her  son  settled  ; 
and  not  thus  will  any  wise  woman,  mother  or 
daughter  think  of  determining  the  future. 
"  If  woman  would  learn,"  says  an  old  bishop, 
"  what  God  will  plague  them  for,  let  them 
learn  the  third  chapter  of  Isaiah  ;  and  if  they 
will  learn  what  God  willeth  them  to  do,  &nd 
be  occupied  withal,  though  they  be  of  the 
best  sort,  let  them  read  the  last  chapter  of 
Proverbs." 

"Thus,"  says  Matthew  Henry,  "is  shut  up 
this  looking-glass  for  ladies,  which  they  arc 
desired   to   open   and   dress  themselves   by ; 


"  THE  VIRTUOUS  WOMAN!'  27 

and,  if  they  do  so,  their  adorning  shall  be 
found  unto  praise  and  honor  and  glory  at  the 
appearing  of  Jesus  Christ." 


HOW   SHE    KEPT   THE    FIFTH   COM- 
MANDMENT. 


A   STORY   IN   FOUR   CIIArTER9. 


CHAPTER   I. 


Y !  you're  a  nice  one  to  talk  to  me  of 


1;   being  respectable !     I  'm  disgracing 

you,  am  I  ?    You  were  respectable  ! 

Your    drunken    father    was    glad    I 

took  you  oflf  his  hands.     You  respectable  !" 

"Oh!    George,  have  some  feeling  —  if  not 

for  me,  or  yourself — for  the  children!" 

"  Feeling !  Give  me  some  money — let  me 
have  a  good  hand-over — and  then  talk  to  me 
of  feeling.     Where  is  the  money?" 

"  George,  I  cannot  .give  you  more  money. 

It  would  be  sinful  to  ." 

"  No  cant — get  me  the  money  or  I'll ." 

And  the  half-mad  brute  raised  his  hand ;  but 
Millie  put  her  arms  round  him  with — "  Dear 

(28) 


HO  V/  SHE  KEP  T,  E  TC.  29 

Father,  don't,  please  don't;"  and  the  poor 
heart-broken  wife  and  mother  glided  from 
the  room. 

There  was  a  painful  contrast  between  the 
scene  without  and  the  scene  within  that  pret- 
ty cottage.  It  was  summer  evening  —  the 
end  of  June.  Standard  roses  sprung  from 
the  smooth,  green  turf,  and  geraniums  in  the 
richest  bloom  grew  around.  The  little  grav- 
el-walk, bordered  by  the  hedge  of  sweetbriar, 
was  without  a  weed,  and  the  briar-roses  peep- 
ed out  in  rare  beauty.  All  was  as  tranquil 
as  an  infant's  sleep,  and  the  dappled  clouds 
overhead  were  as  still  as  the  green  fields  be- 
low. But  there  was  no  repose  within  those 
walls.  There  had  been  many  a  scene  of  sor- 
row and  bitter  mortification  while  Mrs.  Lums- 
den  lived  in  town.  Many  a  time,  as  people 
came  to  do  business,  and  saw  how  she 
screened  the  worthless  sot  to  whom  she  was 
married,  they  wondered  she  bore  as  she  did. 
But  she  had  the  strongest  motive  to  effort. 
Her  children  must  starve  if  her  energy  did 
not  keep  up  the  business.  And  she  did  keep 
it  up,  and  her  children  were  now  growing 


30  HOW  SHE  KEPT  THE 

into  womanhood.  In  the  hope  that  the  temp- 
tations might  be  less  powerful,  as  they  would 
be  less  frequent,  she  had  taken  this  pleasant 
country  spot,  going  in  daily  to  the  store,  and 
trusting  to  the  girls  to  amuse  and  occupy 
their  father.  But  it  was  of  no  avail.  Daily 
and  nightly  the  same  scenes  of  fury,  violence, 
and  sottishness  were  re-enacted.  Money  was 
borrowed  ;  at  first  in  pounds,  then  half- 
crowns,  and  then  shillings,  and  many  a  poor 
man  —  for  Mr.  Lumsden  was  mean  enough 
to  borrow  from  even  a  laborer  —  lost  his 
money  rather  than  ask  it  from  the  suffering 
and  struggling  wife.  Things  had  now  be- 
come no  longer  endurable.  First,  threats, 
and  then  actual  and  repeated  violence  had 
been  used  to  his  wife.  Promises  had  been 
made  to  Mr.  Reid,  her  brother,  and  broken, 
or  kept  only  in  word  ;  for  when  rum  or  bran- 
dy was  not  swallowed,  mad  intoxication  was 
produced  by  spirits  of  wine,  stolen  out  of  his 
own  store.  Mr.  Reid  again  interfered,  after 
a  scene  such  as  we  have  just  witnessed,  and 
declared  he  should  have  him  deprived  of 
everything,  if  he  did  not  take  an  allowance 


FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  31 

—  barely  enough  for  a  maintenance  —  and 
leave  his  wife  and  children,  of  whose  life  he 
was  the  dark  shadow,  and  the  home  of  which 
he  was  the  curse.  Mrs.  Lumsden  had  no 
choice.  It  was  a  bitter  grief  to  her.  Many 
a  sad  talk  she  had  with  Millie — now  so  much 
a  woman  as  to  be  companionable  — about  her 
duty  in  it,  and  many  a  vague  fear  lest  she 
was  putting  away  from  her  the  cross  her 
Heavenly  Father  ordained.  But  she  had  no 
choice.  Mr.  Reid  took  the  responsibility  — 
there  was  no  other  way  to  save  them  all. 
He  probably  knew  more  than  even  she  did. 
He  would  not  allow  her  to  see  him  again : 
and  so  George  Lumsden,  the  clever  medical 
student,  the  brilliant  tenor  singer,  the  prom- 
ising young  physician,  after  breaking  down 
as  a  doctor,  and  being  set  up  again  as  a 
druggist  and  apothecary,  now  become  mean, 
false,  brutal,  and  helpless,  is  to  have  the 
means  of  life  from  his  wife's  honest  toil,  on 
condition  that  he  keep  out  of  the  kingdom  ! 
Over  many  a  desolate  scene  intemperance 
has  stalked  in  ghastly  triumph,  but  rarely 
have  its  victories  been  more  complete  than 


32  HOW  SHE  KEPT  THE 

here.  Alas,  for  the  worse  than  widoived 
wife !  alas,  for  the  children  who  blushed  for 
their  father !  and  alas,  for  the  poor,  haggard 
ruin  of  a  man  who  stole  away  to  hide  himself, 
crushed  and  mortified,  in  the  wastes  of  life 
that  heave  to  and  fro  in  the  east  end  of  Lon- 
don ! 


CHAPTER   II. 

The  young  ladies  of  Greenwill,  Hope,  and 
Co.'s,  West  End  Ladies'  Outfitters,  live,  some 
within  the  house,  and  some  in  lodgings. 
They  commence  business  at  eight  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  and  some  of  them,  in  the  busy 
season,  work  till  nine  or  ten  o'clock,  and  then 
walk  to  their  lodgings.  In  the  house  there 
is  the  usual  tendency  to  grouping  into  knots, 
and  canvassing  each  other's  habits  and  ways. 
Blame  not  these  poor  girls  —  shut  out  from 
the  common  and  free  joys  of  life — if  the  atten- 
trons  of  friends  of  the  other  sex  often  came 
under  discussion,  and  if  the  striking  points  of 
such  as  had  been  noticed  in  the  Sunday  walk 
were  sometimes  the  subject  of  mutual  rail- 


FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  33 

lery.  The  energy  and  quiet  resolution  of  one 
of  these  young  women,  known  in  the  house 
as  Miss  MilHcent,  had  raised  her  to  the  head 
of  her  department.  She  had  been  there  only 
two  years  and  a  half,  but  she  had  gained  the 
entire  confidence  of  the  partners ;  and  when 
Mr.  Greenwill  had  to  dismiss  poor  Miss 
Smith  for  taking  porter  to  her  room,  and  all 
but  burning  the  house,  he  intimated  with  con- 
siderable parade  that  Miss  Millicent  should 
have  the  place,  and  that  his  mind  would  be 
easy  regarding  its  duties  being  thoroughly 
done.  We  hope  this  circumstance  did  not 
quicken  the  attention  with  which  she  was 
observed.  Her  predecessor  slept  in,  but  she 
was  still  permitted  to  sleep  out.  No  one  had 
been  to  her  lodgings.  They  could  not  be 
near  the  house,  for  she  seemed  to  have  a  long 
walk  to  and  fro.  No  one  knew  her  friends ; 
and  no  one  ever  called  on  her.  Yet  she  was 
not  friendless.  She  had  been  noticed  with 
a  companion  who  did  not  seem  to  court  ob- 
servation, and  she  sometimes  carried  books 
from  the  library  provided  for  the  young  peo- 
ple, which  she  could  hardly  be  supposed  to 


34  HOW  SHE  KEPT  THE 

read.     Her  reserved  and  quiet  dignity,  how 
ever,  put  all  questioning  aside,  and  Miss  Mil- 
licent  went  on  her  way,  calm,  cool,  and  regu- 
lar, like  a  star. 

Let  us  follow  her  home  this  evening.  It 
is  late  when  she  can  leave,  and  an  omnibus 
in  the  Strand  carries  her  through  Temple 
Bar  and  the  City.  Then  through  a  maze  ol 
streets,  through  a  small,  obscure  square,  off 
which  runs  a  crooked  line  of  mis-shapen 
dwellings,  erected  by  a  prosperous  builder, 
who,  to  perpetuate  his  own  distinguished 
name  and  taste,  called  this  abortion  Jones' 
Crescent.  The  end  house  of  Jones'  Crescent 
was  let  off  in  tenements,  and  the  door  swung 
freely  ''  and  recked  not  of  a  foe."  Miss  Milli- 
cent  pushed  it  open,  and  knocked  at  the  two- 
pair  front  drawing-room  door.  It  was  opened 
by  a  slight  and  stooping  figure,  in  garments 
of  gentlemanly  cut  and  texture,  but  much 
worn  and  somewhat  behind  the  current  style. 
A  faint  smile  welcomed  her.  "  Well,  father, 
and  how  has  work  gone  on  to-day  ?  Got  the 
paper  finished  ?  I  have  got  off  so  early,  and 
we  shall  have  the  walk,  sha'n't  we?" 


FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  35 

"As  you  like,  dear;  I  have  finished  the 
*  Electricity,'  and  it  is  to  be  in  to-night;  could 
you  walk  so  far?" 

"  Of  course,  and  much  farther ;  it  will  be 
capital."  And  in  a  few  minutes  the  table 
was  arranged,  a  frugal  tea  was  made ;  Miss 
Millicent,  with  great  care,  buttoned  her  fa- 
ther's greatcoat,  rallied  him  on  his  despatch 
with  the  paper,  and  his  growing  fame  as  an 
author,  and  set  out  on  the  walk,  taking  his 
arm  as  proudly  as  if  Jones'  Crescent  were  all 
her  own  private  property,  and  now,  while 
they  enjoy  their  walk,  and  leave  the  manu- 
script on  "Electricity"  at  the  office  of  the 
"  People's  Own  Gazetteer,"  let  us  go  back 
over  two  years  and  a  half 

Millie  could  think  of  no  better  plan  than 
for  her  father  to  be  sent  away.  Oh !  how 
she  sobbed  and  struggled  ere  she  could  pro 
nounce  those  words !  But  she  could  not  rest 
when  he  was  gone.  She  knew  her  mother 
could  do  nothing  more,  and  that  bread  must 
be  earned  for  her  younger  sisters.  She  must 
do  something  herself 

She  could  go  to  business.     She  might  open 


36  HOW  SHE  KEPT  THE 

a  way  for  the  younger  children  ;  she  could 
get  a  position  in  London.  The  thing  seemed 
absurd,  but  she  talked  her  mother  into  famili- 
arity with  the  plan,  and  one  fine  morning 
Millie  found  herself  on  board  the  Holyhead 
boat,  the  only  being  she  knew  in  sight  being 
the  slight  figure  draped  in  black,  that  feebly 
waved  good-bye  to  her  from  the  Kingstown 
jetty.  A  few  turns  of  the  paddle-wheels,  the 
pier-head  was  rounded,  her  mother  out  of 
sight,  the  sea  and  the  sea  of  life  open  before 
her.  She  had  in  her  pocket  the  address  to 
which  Mr.  Reid  remitted  her  father's  allow- 
ance—  how  she  got  it  we  need  not  explain. 
That  was  her  only  introduction.  She  had 
found  her  father,  had  twined  her  daughter's 
arms  round  his  neck,  had  entreated  him, 
watched  with  him,  cheered  him,  amused  him, 
found  him  books  to  read,  and  at  length  inter- 
ested him  in  some  of  his  old  studies  by  seek- 
ing explanations  in  the  different  museums 
they  visited  together.  It  was  a  long  struggle 
with  the  old  enemy,  and  sometimes  seemed 
well-nigh  hopeless.  But  she  hoped  on,  and 
when  the  minister  in  the  little  chapel  in  the 


FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  37 

Square,  prayed  one  Sabbath  evening,  for  any 
"who  were  only  struggling  out  of  despair," 
she  took  that  to  herself,  and  felt  as  if  the 
Lord  had  had  her  case  that  night  laid  before 
Him,  and  not  in  vain.  It  was  moonlight. 
Father  and  child  paced  round  and  round  the 
Square,  now  silent,  now  speaking,  each  think- 
ing how  far  the  heart  might  be  bared  to  the 
other  without  risk  of  misconception.  At 
length  she  told  him  that  she  was  just  so, 
"  struggling  out  of  despair."  Conceive  her 
joy  when  he  exclaimed,  "  No,  Millie ;  that 
was  for  me  and  me  only,  none  but  me ;  strug- 
gling out  of  despair  —  that  is  just  it.  Oh! 
Lord,  do  not  let  me  quite  sink ;  deliver  my 
soul  out  of  the  lowest  hell."  He  stopped 
short ;  it  was  his  first  audible  prayer.  Millie 
had  no  word,  no  lecture,  no  admonition  — 
nothing  to  do  but  love  him  and  pray  to  God. 
She  had  hope  from  that  night. 

An  advertisement  of  Green  will,  Hope  and 
Co.'s  brought  her  to  their  place ;  her  expe- 
rience was  nothing,  but  her  manners  were 
good,  and  her  appearance  everything.  She 
was  tried,  and  the  result  we  have  seen.     Miss 


38  HO IV  SHE  KEPT  THE 

Millicent,  as  she  chose  to  be  called  was  mys 
terious  and  silent,  but  perfectly  lady-like,  and 
a  first-rate  hand,  and  that  was  about  as  much 
as  Messrs.  Greenwill,  Hope  and  Co.  wanted, 
or  paid  for.      They  were  quite  satisfied. 

CHAPTER    III. 

Not  so  Mr.  Henry  Greenwill,  son  of  the 
senior  partner,  and  now  filling  a  subordinate 
place  in  the  house,  until  "  something  better 
offered."  That  something  was  definite  enough 
to  the  eye  of  Mr.  Greenwill,  senior.  What 
should  his  son  do  but  succeed  his  father  ? 

Mr.  Greenwill,  junior,  conceived  an  irre- 
sistible desire  to  know  Miss  Millicent's  where- 
abouts. He  became  quite  alarmed  about  the 
length  of  her  walks,  feared  she  came  too  far  ; 
but  no  word  of  hers  told  her  address.  He 
thought  she  was  looking  ill ;  should  she  not 
have  a  holiday  ?  Would  she  like  to  go  to  her 
friends  for  a  fortnight  ?  Had  she  railway  all 
the  way,  or  was  her  family  in  Ireland  ?  No 
syllable  of  hers  told  where  they  were.  Then 
he  became  deeply  interested  in  her  religious 


FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  39 

views.  Had  she  heard  Mr.  Spurgeon,  or  had 
she  been  to  the  People's  Cathedral  Service, 
or  seen  Mr.  Bellew  ?  No;  Miss  Millicent 
was  impervious.  These  well-meant  efforts 
were  made  at  intervals,  and  the  last  of  them 
was  followed  by  a  distinct  request  to  be  al- 
lowed to  accompany  her  homeward.  "  No  ; 
she  was  grateful,  but  it  was  quite  unneces- 
sary," and  when  Miss  Millicent  said  that,  she 
made  it  clear  that  she  meant  that. 

Mr.  Greenwill's  business  led  him  into  her 
department,  and  made  some  conference  nec- 
essary. He  begged  to  be  allowed  to  speak  to 
her,  in  a  manner  so  perfectly  sensible,  that 
there  was  nothing  for  it  but  explanation. 
But  her  words  were  prompt  and  frank — "  Mr. 
Greenwill,  I  am  here  in  your  father's  employ, 
and  I  wish  to  do  my  duty.  You  have  always 
been  very  kind  to  me,  and  I  am  very  grateful, 
and  I  shall  always  be  so.  Nothing  more  is  to 
be  thought  of,  and  I  beg  you  to  consider  it 
so."  Would  she  not  consider — give  some  ex- 
planation ?  say  was  the  gentleman  with  whom 
she  was  seen  walking  anything  to  her  ?  "  Yes, 
Mr.  Greenwill,  he  is  everything  to  me  ;"  and 


40  HO  IV  SHE  KEPT  THE 

SO  the  conference  ended,  leaving  the  Chief  ot 
the  Bonnets  and  the  Buyer  of  Ribbons  intently 
occupied  in  the  study  of  the  mystery,  while 
it  was  gravely  whispered  between  Shawls 
and  Opera-cloaks — both  extremely  tall,  state- 
ly, and  imposing  persons — that  Miss  Millicent 
must  have  got  a  terrible  wigging  about  her 
accounts,  for  she  had  been  as  pale  as  a  sheet 
for  hours  after. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

The  geraniums  are  under  that  bit  of  glass 
that  stretches  itself  against  the  south  end  of 
Mrs.  Lumsden's  cottage.  The  frost  lies  white 
around,  and  the  keen  east  wind  is  cropping 
the  sweet  briar,  and  hissing  rather  spitefully 
through  the  shrubbery ;  but  there  is  joy 
within  and  unwonted  peace.  Some  corres- 
pondence had  taken  place  between  Uncle 
Reid  and  Millie,  which  was  followed  by  some 
more  correspondence  between  George  Lums- 
den  and  Mr.  Reid,  which  was  followed  again 
by  some  correspondence  between  George 
Lumsden  and   Mrs.  Lumsden,  the  result  of 


FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  41 

which  was,  that,  in  the  end  of  December,  the 
shght  figure,  now  draped  more  cheerily,  stood 
on  the  Kingstown  jetty,  and  waved  a  handker- 
chief as  the  paddles  of  the  "  Leinster  "  slowed, 
and  the  great  placid,  smooth-skinned  monster 
crept  up  kindly  to  the  side  of  Carlisle  Pier. 
A  gentleman-like  man  in  middle  life,  on  whose 
arm  leant  a  happy  and — even  Shawls  and 
Opera-cloaks  must  have  owned — good-look- 
ing young  woman,  stepped  on  the  pier  and 
began  to  contend,  in  a  quiet  but  earnest  way, 
for  the  slight  figure  that  waved  the  handker- 
chief; and  all  that  Christmas  time  was  a  very 
happy  one,  for  Dr.  Lumsden  had,  as  every 
one  knew,  returned,  and,  it  was  quietly  hoped, 
had  come  to  himself,  Millie  had  somehow 
grown  immensely  in  all  eyes  ;  parents  and  sis- 
ters, even  Uncle  Reid,  deferred  to  her  in  a  way 
that  was  quite  astonishing,  and  declared  to 
his  own  children  that  she  was  a  good  girl,  and 
a  pious  girl,  and  a  very  clever  girl,  with  so 
much  unnecessary  vehemence  that  a  stranger 
might  have  thought  he  was  clearing  her  of 
some  serious  charge. 

And,  perhaps,  she  needed  some  such  de- 


42  HOW  SHE  KEPT  THE 

fence,  when  the  festivities  of  New  Year's  Day- 
were  interrupted  b}^  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Green- 
will,  Junior,  from  London,  in  a  most  unex- 
pected manner.  He  had  found  it  necessary 
to  come  to  Ireland  on  business.  In  fact,  trade 
was  so  bad  in  Ireland,  and  a  firm  in  Limerick 
with  which  his  house  did  business  had  been 
ro  shaky,  that  it  was  imperative  he  should 
not  lose  a  minute  in  looking  after  it.  He  had 
not,  however,  taken  the  direct  route  to  Lim- 
erick, but  probably  there  was  some  profound 
commercial  or  strategetical  reason  for  that. 
In  fact,  two  days  before,  a  person  from  Jones' 
Crescent  had  called  at  the  house  of  Green- 
will,  Hope  &  Co.,  to  say  that  Miss  Millie  had 
written  for  a  small  parcel  that  was  forgotten, 
and  sent  money  to  forward  it,  but  if  anything 
was  going  from  the  house,  the  parcel  could 
go  in  that  way,  and  save,  etc.,  etc.,  after  the 
manner  of  London  lodging-house  keepers, 
who  pay  impossible  rents,  and  live  on  rather 
less  than  nothing.  This  excellent  person  had 
shed  a  light  upon  the  mind  of  Mr.  Greenwill, 
Junior,  from  whom  the  information  was  sought. 
Mr.  Greenwill  had  brought  the  little  parcel. 


FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  43 

But  about  the  Limerick  house  that  was 
shaky  ?  Well,  in  fact,  Mr.  Greenwill,  junior, 
must  have  used  the  telegraph  and  got  reas- 
suring replies,  for  he  remained  at  the  cottage 
for  a  week.  He  had  several  still  more  length- 
ened explanations  with  Millie  (she  had  drop- 
ped "  Miss  Milhcent "),  and  also  with  her 
parents.  It  transpired  during  one  of  those 
early  conversations  that  when  Millie  alleged 
solemnly  that  the  gentleman  with  whom  she 
appeared  in  public  was  "  everything  to  her," 
he  had  concluded  that  she  was  engaged,  and, 
like  a  true  man,  held  his  peace.  Now  he  sees 
his  mistake,  and  considers  and  declares  him- 
self a  most  decided  goose,  which  none  of  the 
ladies  of  the  family  will  admit.  It  is  agreed 
that  Millie  had  better  return  to  London,  and 
make  some  way  for  her  sisters,  particularly  as 
she  is  to  be  Mrs.  Greenwill,  Junior ;  and  Mr. 
Greenwill,  Junior — in  consequence,  we  sup- 
pose, of  the  ability  displayed  in  the  settlement 
of  the  Limerick  difficulty,  is  to  become  a 
partner  in  the  house  at  the  beginning  of  their 
financial  year;  while  Dr.  Lumsden,  having 
risen  to  a  higher  class  of  literature  than  the 


44  HOW  SHE  KEPT  THE,  ETC. 

"  People's  Own  Gazetteer,"  is  arranging  for 
settling  in  the  great  metropolis  to  resume  his 
profession,  and  continue  his  contributions  to 
the  Medical  Press. 

Mr.  Eeid  is  increasingly  vehement  to  his 
own  children  in  praise  of  Millie,  and  declares 
that  she,  having  honored  her  father,  "  shall 
have  long  life  and  prosperity  ;"  for  the  Reids, 
and  Lumsdens  too,  were  all  Scotch  originally, 
and  were  well  grounded  in  the  Shorter  Cate- 
chism. 


BE   STRONG." 


A    MOTTO     FOR    YOUNG    MEN. 


EAKNESS  and  wickedness  are  close- 
ly allied.  A  man  is  charged  in  tones 
of  censure  with  his  act.  He  is  not 
strong  enough  to  avow  and  defend 
it,  and  he  wickedly  denies  it.  He  is  wicked 
because  he  is  weak.  A  youth  is  invited  to  a 
partnership  in  wrong-doing.  His  heart  mis- 
gives him,  but  he  is  too  weak  to  say  ''  No," 
and  he  is  speedily  wicked.  A  rising  profes- 
sional man  is  invited  by  the  tacit  agreement 
of  his  circle  to  a  st3de  of  living  he  cannot  af- 
ford. He  has  not  the  courage  to  say,  "  I  can- 
not afford  it,"  and  he  becomes  a  borrower, 
and  servant  to  the  lender ;  and  then  evasive ; 
and  then  deceitful ;  and  then  dishonest ;  and 
then  ruined.      His  weakness  is  the  inclined 

(45) 


46  ''BE  STRONG." 

plane  down  which  he  glides,  with  now  and 
then  a  spasmodic  bootless  attempt  to  recover 
himself,  into  wickedness. 

There  is  very  good  reason,  therefore,  for 
our  being  advised  to  "  be  strong."  But  Chris- 
tian character  has  two  sides.  We  cease  to  do 
evil.  We  also  learn  to  do  well.  But  doing 
well  is  impossible,  if  we  are  not  strong.  The 
forces  of  evil  are  many  and  mighty.  Life  is 
short.  The  love  of  ease  is  deep-rooted.  Un- 
less we  are  strong  we  effect  nothing.  Our 
lives  shall  be  mere  bundles  of  resolves  never 
effected,  collections  of  impotent  wishes  that 
never  came  to  anything.  You  know  very 
well  there  are  many  such  well-meaning,  weak 
persons,  of  whom  it  is  said — *'  They  are  very 
good  at  talking,  but  never  finish  anything." 

No  wonder,  therefore,  that  this  pithy  advice 
should  be  often  repeated  in  Scripture.  Three 
times  the  Lord  impressed  it  on  the  mind  of 
Joshua,  and  the  people  re-echoed  the  counsel 
in  the  form  of  an  encouragement.  It  was  Da- 
vid's advice  to  Solomon,  which  it  had  been 
well  for  his  reputation  that  he  had  followed 
through   life.      It   was   Haggai's   cry  to  the 


"BE  STRONG r  47 

builders  of  the  second  temple — to  Joshua,  to 
Zerubbabel,  and  to  all  the  people  of  the  land. 
The  New  Testament  repeats  the  sentiment. 
Paul — well  entitled  to  speak  on  the  subject — 
says  to  the  Corinthians  (i  Cor.  xvi.  13),  "  Quit 
you  like  men,  be  strong."  To  the  Ephesians 
he  adds  a  further  hint  (vi.  10),  ''  Be  strong  in 
the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  His  might."  To 
Timothy,  a  young  man,  he  says — "  Be  strong 
in  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  And  the 
aged  and  loving  John,  writing  to  young  men 
in  his  first  Epistle,  and  looking  on  them  with 
the  kindly  eye  of  a  mellow  old  disciple,  and 
rejoicing  to  think  the  best  of  them,  says — 
"  I  write  unto  you  because  ye  are  strong." 
(i  John  ii.  14.) 

All  these  words  surely  suggest  that  strength 
is  a  valuable  element  in  Christian  character, 
and  several  of  them  suggest  it  as  desirable, 
especially  in  young  men.  Receive,  then,  from 
one  who  would  still  wish  to  be  young  in  hope, 
and  zeal,  and  in  the  eager  desire  to  learn,  a 
a  few  hints  on  this  subject. 

Aim  at  strength  of  convictions.  Convictions 
are  opinions  deliberately  formed  after  a  care- 


48  "BE  STRONG." 

ful  survey  of  the  proper  evidence.  John 
Locke  said  that  not  so  many  people  were 
wrong-  in  their  opinions  as  was  thought,  for 
much  of  what  they  held  was  not  opinion  at 
all.  All  kinds  of  truth  have  their  proper  evi- 
dence ;  mathematical  truth  has  mathematical 
evidence ;  moral  truth  has  moral  evidence. 
Historic  truth  has  historical  evidence.  Spir- 
itual truth  has  spiritual  evidence,  namely, 
the  revealed  will  of  God,  which  is  the  evi- 
dence whereon  faith  builds.  An  example  will 
illustrate  this.  A  gentleman  holds  Oliver 
Cromwell  to  have  been  a  conscious  hypocrite, 
and  he  calls  it  his  opinion  or  conviction.  On 
what  does  it  rest?  On  something  he  read 
from  Goldsmith's  England  when  at  school, 
and  on  certain  loose  partisan  talk  he  has  heard 
since  from  other  readers  of  Oliver  Goldsmith 
or  his  authorities.  Did  he  ever  examine  the 
proper  evidence  ?  Never.  Then  he  can  have 
no  opinion  or  conviction  on  the  point. 

You  announce  a  spiritual  truth  to  a  person 
— as  for  example  that  Christ's  righteousness  is 
a  sufficient  plea  for  a  sinner  and  a  sufficient 
basis  for  assurance.    Without  any  examination 


''BE  STRONG."  49 

for  himself  of  the  proper  evidence  on  the  sub- 
ject, he  declares  his  conviction  of  the  impossi- 
bility of  such  a  thing-.  He  has  no  conviction  ; 
he  can  have  none  till  he  has  weighed  the  prop 
er  evidence,  namely,  the  Word  of  the  Lord. 
He  may  have  a  presumption,  or  a  collateral 
consideration,  or  an  imagination,  or  a  preju- 
dice, but  he  has  no  conviction.  For  there  are 
many  persons  strong  in  prejudice ;  many  are 
strong  in  passion  ;  many  are  strong  in  resolu- 
tion, and  have  an  indomitable  will ;  but  what 
I  command  to  you  is  to  have  strong  con- 
victions. 

You  may  imagine  I  make  a  great  demand 
on  you,  when  I  limit  conviction  to  what  we 
have  thought  out  for  ourselves.  It  is  so ;  but 
not  greater  than  Paul  makes  —  "Prove  all 
things ;  hold  fast  that  which  is  good."  This 
will  likely  limit  the  number  of  your  opin- 
ions ;  but  that  is  no  evil.  Your  shallow  and 
superficial  people  have  opinions  and  convic- 
tions on  all  subjects.  The  really  great  are 
aware  that  on  a  multitude  of  subjects  they 
can  be  but  learners  and  inquirers,  till  they  see 
things  by  and  by  in  the  Hght  of  the  perfect 
3 


50  ''BE  strong:' 

day ;  and  so  they  are  modest  and  silent,  where 
others  are  fluent  and  confident. 

Be  strong  in  good  sense.  Now  I  anticipate 
that  you  will  say  in  your  minds  that  the  "  wis- 
dom of  this  world"  is  foolishness  with  God. 
Quite  true.  But  it  is  not  the  wisdom  of  this 
world  I  am  recommending.  It  is  not  good 
sense.  There  is  a  wisdom  that  is  not  of  this 
world,  and  is  enjoined  on  Christians ;  and  the 
want  of  which  defeats  many  a  fair  scheme, 
and  alienates  many  a  hopeful  inquirer.  Our 
Lord  must  have  meant  something  when  He 
said — "  Be  wise  as  serpents."  So  must  Paul 
when  he  made  it  a  matter  of  prayer  that  the 
Philippians  might  "  approve  things  that  are 
excellent."  Moderation  is  a  much  abused  and 
now  an  ill-omened  word,  but  it  meant  some- 
thing when  the  same  apostle  urged  on  the 
same  believers,  "  Let  your  moderation  be 
known  unto  all  men."  (iv.  5.) 

There  are  impetuous  good  people;  fickle 
good  people  ;  unwise  good  people ;  let  us  say 
it  out,  foolish  good  people,  who  lack  wisdom 
and  do  not  know  that  they  lack  it.  A  certain 
sober  judgment   ought  to   mark   Christians, 


''BE  STRONCr  51 

They  should  be  like  the  needle  in  the  mari- 
ner's compass,  not  like  the  pendulum  which, 
within  its  limited  range,  is  always  going  from 
one  extreme  to  another.  I  do  not  agree  with 
all  the  views  of  John  Wesley,  or  William 
Penn,  but  I  think  they  were  two  of  the  great- 
est men  the  world  ever  had,  and  I  consider 
that  much  of  the  strength  that  enabled  them 
to  do  so  much  lay  in  the  force  of  their  convic- 
tions and  the  sobriety  of  their  judgments. 
They  do  not  startle  people  with  paradoxes, 
nor  banish  all  confidence  in  them  by  the  wild- 
ness  with  which  they  unfold  their  ideas  to 
minds  quite  unprepared. 

I  am  aware  that  this  appears  to  many  a 
timid,  feeble,  almost  time-serving  type  of 
character.  But  one  is  safe  in  following  Paul, 
who  had  as  much  chivalry  as  any  Christian. 
Let  any  objector  study  the  course  Paul  adopt- 
ed at  Jerusalem,  when  communicating  his 
plans  privately  to  the  leading  people  at  Jeru- 
salem, lest  his  work  should  be  hindered  by 
rash  and  heady  people  when  the  subject  came 
to  be  openly  discussed. 

I  know  that  some  may  say — "  I  don't    care 


32  "BE  STRONG." 

what  the  world  thinks ;  its  opinion  is  sure  to 
be  wrong."  Well,  Paul  was  of  a  different 
mind  when  he  advised  the  Colossians  (iv.  5) 
to  "  walk  in  wisdom  towards  them  that  are 
without." 

Strength  of  love,  strength  of  hope,  and  es- 
pecially of  faith,  which  is  the  measure  of  every 
other  grace,  is  urgently  needed ;  but  I  dwell 
not  on  these  aspects  of  Christian  character  be- 
cause they  are  being  constantly  urged  in  ser- 
mons and  elsewhere.  Less  frequently,  how- 
ever, are  the  foregoing  thoughts  urged  from 
the  pulpit,  and  in  an  age  which  affects  "  broad 
thinking,"  and  in  which  superficial  people  are 
often  marring  the  good  they  intend  by  want 
of  wisdom,  it  is  important  to  seek  strong  con- 
victions, and  good  sense  that  effect  may  be 
given  to  them. 


THE   BARS    OF  A    CASTLE." 

T  was  a  dull  cold  day  on  which  I  set 
out  to  visit  an  aged  and  dying  man. 
The  country  roads  were  muddy,  and 
the  fields  in  a  sticky  paste,  that  made 
walking  a  disagreeable  exercise.  Yet  I  could 
hardly  say  I  was  glad  when  I  reached  my 
destination.  I  had  a  painful  duty  before  me. 
In  the  same  village  w^th  the  dying  man  was 
an  aged  brother,  and  between  them  and  their 
families  a  long  enmity  had  subsisted.  Could 
I  connive  at  this  dying  man  passing  into  eter- 
nity without  being  reconciled  to  his  brother? 
I  believed  it  my  duty  to  make  the  attempt, 
at  least,  to  bring  them  together.  It  Avas  long 
before  I  could  get  the  consent  of  the  sick 
man.     I  urged  upon  him  that  his  professed 

(53) 


54  "  THE  BARS  OF  A  CASTLE." 

trust  in  Christ  would  be  doubtful  indeed  if 
his  heart  still  retained  malice.  No,  he  had 
no  malice ;  he  could  forgive,  but  not  forget. 
I  urged  that  it  was  no  forgiveness  that  thus 
expressed  itself — and  at  length  got  his  con- 
sent to  send  a  message  for  his  brother.  I  was 
the  bearer  of  it  myself.  Here,  however,  the 
task  was  still  harder ;  and  an  hour  was  spent 
in  argument,  appeal,  persuasion,  and  prayer. 
At  length  he  agreed  to  accompany  me,  and 
was  helped  across  the  little  street  that  part- 
ed the  two  houses.  But  when  they  did  meet, 
and  the  one  gray-haired  man  bent  over  the 
body  of  the  other — their  tears  flowed  freely, 
and  the  alienation  that  had  lasted  long  was 
confessed  and  deplored  with  mingling  sobs 
and  prayers  for  forgiveness.  I  left  them  with 
some  thankfulness  of  spirit,  that  I  had  been 
able  to  persevere  in  a  painful  duty — and  as  I 
retraced  my  steps  at  the  close  of  a  dull  ^.nd 
dreary  day,  I  could  not  but  feel  the  truth  of 
that  proverb,  "A  brother  offended  is  harder 
to  be  won  than  a  strong  city ;  and  their  con- 
tentions are  like  the  bars  of  a  castlo."  (Prov 
xviii :  19.) 


"  THE  BARS  OF  A  CASTLE."  55 

Among  my  readers  there  must  be  some  to 
whom  just  reflections  on  this  painful  theme 
will  be  timely,  and  by  God's  blessing  they 
shall  be  useful ;  for  to  quench  the  fires  of  one 
such  unhallowed  quarrel  were  worth  more 
than  the  cost  of  producing  this  paper. 

Brothers  are  usually  on  a  level  in  education 
and  social  advantages.  Their  interests  natu- 
rally come  into  collision  in  many  things. 
Comparisons  between  them  in  character  and 
circumstances  are  easy  and  natural  to  them- 
selves and  others,  and  if  strife  arises  they  feed 
the  flame.  Brothers  commonly  know  each 
other  well,  and  are  therefore  capable  of  in- 
flicting the  deepest  and  most  rankling  mutual 
wounds.  Maintaining  a  common  relation  to 
the  same  circle,  they  have  many  opportuni- 
ties of  renewing  or  displaying  their  malice, 
and  so  the  reconciliation  of  the  alienated  is 
extremely  difficult.  Whether  we  have  right- 
ly stated  the  principle  of  it  or  not,  the  sad  fad 
must  have  come  under  the  observation  of 
every  thoughtful  person. 

The  Scriptures — in  which  nothing  is  omitted 
that  we  need  to  know — set  up  their  beacons  to 


56  "  THE  BARS  OF  A  CASTLE r 

US  on  this  point.  Cain  and  Abel  introduce  the 
mournful  array.  Then  a  confused  noise  of 
violence  is  drowned  by  the  flood ;  and  a 
chosen  family  is  made  the  depository  of  God's 
will.  Then  Abraham  and  Lot,  Jacob  and 
Esau,  Jacob  and  Laban,  Joseph  and  his  breth- 
ren, pass  before  us  in  their  quarrels,  to  make 
way  for  Israel  and  Edom  in  bitter  and  pro- 
tracted rivalry.  The  family  feud  did  much 
to  embitter  David's  life,  as  the  strifes  of  broth- 
ers have  many  a  household  since. 

And  what  can  be  done  ?  Something  surely 
in  the  way  of  prevention.  Parents  have  much 
responsibility  here.  Be  it  theirs  to  avoid  such 
thoughtlessness  as  wrought  evil  in  Jacob's 
family,  where  a  matter  of  dress  (O,  how  real 
and  life-like  is  the  Bible  !)  produced  sad  re- 
sults. It  is  a  difficult  and  delicate  but  incum- 
bent duty  to  repress  all  jealousy,  all  captious 
quarrelling  and  childish  strife.  Let  parents 
study  the  example  Christ  set  in  his  family 
of  disciples,  when  "  the  ten  had  indignation  " 
against  Zebedee's  sons  (Matt.  xx.  24). 

Grown-up  brothers  and  sisters  should  guard 
against  the  beginning  of  strife  among  them. 


"  THE  BARS  OF  A  CASTLE."  57 

Do  no  wrong  to  the  rest.  Give  no  provoca- 
tion, and  if  it  be  given,  as  offences  must  come, 
rather  bear  than  resent  the  evil.  What  tem- 
poral advantage,  or  personal  satisfaction,  could 
compensate  you  for  the  loss  of  the  love  of  one 
who  was  cradled  in  the  same  arms,  and  cher- 
ished on  the  same  fond  bosom  ?  Learn  to 
cultivate  such  a  virtue  as  magnanimity.  Be 
greater,  like  Abraham,  than  your  brother,  by 
giving  way.  Let  no  servants'  quarrel  breed 
strife  between  you.  But  above  all,  get  out 
of  your  heart  that  carnal  pride  which  origin- 
ates and  protracts  so  many  such  disputes, 
which  always  asks  "  who  shall  be  the  greatest, 
the  most  popular,  the  most  attractive,"  and 
which  fosters  detraction,  jealousy,  and  slan- 
der. You  can  only  be  sure  of  escape  from 
this  pride  by  having  the  "new  heart."  You 
know  that,  I  hope.  "  From  whence  come 
wars  and  fightings  among  you  ?"  No  natural 
process  of  self-discipline,  such  as  a  virtuous 
heathen  might  adopt,  will  do.  The  task  is  so 
hard,  that  in  view  of  it,  the  disciples  prayed, 
"  Lord,  increase  our  faith  "  (Luke  xvii.  5). 
And  what  if,  unhappily,  the  contention  has 
3* 


58  "  THE  BARS  OF  A  CASTLE." 

begun  ?  Then  cvA  it  as  speedily  as  possible. 
A  spark  of  fire  may  be  quenched,  which  let 
alone,  may  become  a  wasting  conflagration. 
The  first  exuding  drops  that  percolate  through 
the  breakwater  may  be  met  by  timely  resist- 
ance ;  but,  let  alone,  they  may  become  the 
rushing  and  resistless  torrent.  Are  there  mis- 
understandings? Get  explanations  at  once 
Go  and  tell  thy  brother  his  fault — or  your 
own — where  there  shall  be  no  witnesses  to 
provoke  pride.  If  you  were  injured,  then  in 
Christ's  name  forgive.  But  is  there  not  a 
limit  to  this  ?  So  Peter  thought :  "  till  seven 
times."  So  thought  not  Christ :  "  till  seventy 
times  seven."  A  brother  may  do  wrong,  so 
that  you  must  separate  from  him,  or  be  par- 
taker in  his  sin  ;  but  setting  this  aside,  what 
amount  of  wrong  to  you  personally  ought  to 
root  out  of  your  heart  the  feelings  and  af- 
fections God  implanted  there  ?  Down  with 
these  "  bars  !  "  Break  them  in  pieces  ;  melt 
them,  if  they  will  not  break,  with  the  fires  of 
love,  and  get  into  sympathy  with  the  heart 
that  ought  ever  to  beat  responsive  to  your 
own. 


"  THE  BARS  OF  A  CASTLE."  59 

O  !  parents,  only  fancy  those  boys  and  girls 
of  yours,  when  you  are  dead,  perhaps  before 
that,  without  affection  to  one  another :  or  riv- 
als :  or  enemies ! 

Brothers  and  sisters  !  think  of  being  alien- 
ated from  those  whose  presence  is  now  so 
precious  to  you  !  You  have  read  the  touch- 
ing lines  that  describe  "  the  graves  of  a  house- 
hold " — how  they  who  played  under  the  same 
green  tree,  and  around  the  same  parent  knee, 
are  sundered  in  their  resting-places,  and  sleep 
apart — east  and  west,  by  land  and  sea.  It  is 
sad  enough  ;  but  it  is  a  happy  pensiveness 
that  the  thought  brings  over  us.  We  will 
suppose  that  he  "  who  wrapped  his  colors 
round  his  breast,"  and  fell  fighting  in  Spain, 
mingled  thoughts  of  home  with  thoughts  of 
Christ,  as  his  life  ebbed  away  on  that  battle- 
field ;  that  he  who  went  to  sleep  on  the  blue 
lone  sea,  and  "  the  last  of  that  bright  band," 
who  "  faded  midst  Italian  bowers,"  looked 
forward  to  reunion  with  the  rest  in  a  brighter 
land,  where  there  shall  be  "no  more  sea." 
But  to  think  of  hearts  still  alive  in  the  world, 
but  dead  to  love,  and  buried  in  selfishness — of 


6o  "  THE  BARS  OF  A  CASTLE." 

brothers  no  more  to  each  other  than  common 
men ;  sisters  no  more  to  each  other  than 
strangers — perhaps  rivals,  perhaps  foes — this 
awakens  no  tender  feelings,  this  is  intolerable, 
horrible,  revolting ! 

Reader !  are  you  condemned  of  your  con- 
science ?  Is  there  a  quarrel — a  "  coolness " 
you  can't  defend?  Go  this  very  week  and 
pay  the  friendly  visit,  or  write  the  penitent 
letter.  Is  there  a  brother  or  sister  between 
whom  and  you  intercourse  has  gradually 
dropped  ?  Go  and  renew  it  at  once.  Is  there 
so  much  love  in  the  world  that  you  can  light- 
ly throw  that  away  which  the  Creator  made 
yours  at  the  first  ?  Do  not  march  onward  to 
the  grave  with  a  widening  breach  between 
you  and  those  who  were  born  of  the  same 
parents ;  fed  by  the  same  hands  ;  sheltered  in, 
perhaps,  happier  days  under  the  same  roof. 
What  is  your  religion  worth  if  it  is  powerless 
here?  If  you  love  not  your  brother  whom 
you  have  seen,  how  can  you  love  the  unseen 
Jehovah  ?  Love  and  hate  are  like  light  and 
all  other  influences  proceeding  from  a  centre 
■ — nearest  the  centre  they  are  vastly  strongest, 


"  THE  BARS  OF  A  CASTLE."  6i 

and  diminish  regularly  and  rapidly  with  dis- 
tance. The  nearer  my  enemy,  the  bitterer 
my  hate  ;  and  so  "  the  contentions  of  brothers 
are  like  the  bars  of  a  castle  ;  "  and  the  nearer 
my  friend,  the  stronger  should  be  my  love. 
Any  feeling  under  this  name  that  works  dif- 
ferently is  affectation  or  romance.  You  could 
not  compel  light  to  shine  in  one  direction,  or 
on  one  side  only.  It  will  radiate  all  around. 
So  will  true  love.  Upward  to  God  it  is  rev- 
erence and  worship ;  towards  angels  and 
saints  it  is  affectionate  and  grateful  interest ; 
abroad  among  the  good  it  is  brotherly  love ; 
among  the  bad  the  kindness  of  pity.  To  an 
enemy  it  is  generous  forgiveness ;  and  to 
one's  own  flesh  and  blood,  what  should  it  be 
but  unquenchable  tenderness,  natural  feeling 
strengthened,  purified,  and  made  fruitful  by 
the  grafting  of  grace  upon  it? 


A  LIFE -STORY,  IN  SIX  SHORT 
CHAPTERS. 


I. 


NTO  the  Sabbath-school  of 


-,  in 
the  spring-  of  184-,  walks  Thomas 
,  led  by  the  hand  of  a  most  lov- 
ing father,  who,  if  not  himself  a  godly 
man,  valued  godliness,  and  wished  his  little 
son  to  grow  up  in  the  ways  of  goodness. 
Thomas  felt  a  little  strange  at  first  in  the  Sab- 
bath-school. But  the  superintendent  spoke 
to  his  father,  learned  the  boy's  age,  and  the 
amount  of  his  knowledge,  and  put  him  into 
the  class  of  a  very  sensible  and  godly  teach- 
er. Thomas's  father  was  rather  better  off 
than  the  parents  of  most  of  the  children  there, 
and  the  superintendent  was  a  good  deal  en- 
couraged by  his  bringing  his  son.  He  thought 
(62) 


A  LIFE-STORY,  IN  SIX  SHORT  CHAPTERS.    63 

it  a  good  example  to  other  parents,  who  would 
soon  hear  of  it  through  the  children ;  and 
he  took  much  interest  in  Thomas's  progress. 
He  was  a  frank,  guileless,  and  spirited  boy, 
and  made  good  use  of  his  time  at  the  Sun- 
day-school. It  was  a  pleasant  thing  to  see 
him  enter  the  school  with  brisk  step  and 
cheerful  boy's -smile,  walk  up  and  shake 
hands  with  his  teacher,  and  take  his  place  in 
the  class.  Had  ever  poor  Thomas  happier 
hours  than  those  he  spent  in  that  Sunday- 
school  ? 


II. 


Again  Thomas  is  conducted  by  his  father, 
but  this  time  to  a  house  of  business  in  the 
city  of .  He  is  a  tall,  graceful  lad,  well- 
dressed,  and  well-educated.  He  is  about  to 
"  serve  his  time."  He  is  to  be  three  years  in 
the  place.  His  father  settled  all  for  him  in 
the  most  considerate  and  handsome  manner. 
He  called  with  him  at  the  house  of  a  clergy- 
man of  whom  he  had  heard  a  good  report. 
He  commended  his  boy  in  person  to  his  care. 


64    A  LIFE-STORY,  IN  SIX  SHORT  CHAPTERS. 

and  with  some  feeling.  He  went  to  the 
proper  person  and  took  and  paid  for  a  sitting 
in  the  church  for  his  son,  and  for  many 
months  his  son  occupied  it  regularly.  For 
a  time,  too,  he  availed  himself  of  a  class  for 
young  men,  not  exactly  in  the  Sabbath-school, 
but  connected  with  it.  For  a  time  the  minis- 
ter had  hope  of  him,  and  in  reply  to  a  letter 
of  inquiry  from  his  father,  had  pleasure  in 
saying  so.  Thomas  had,  at  this  moment,  as 
good  prospects  as  any  lad  of  seventeen  in  the 
city. 


III. 


In  a  small  back-room  of  the  Hotel, 

about  ten  o'clock  at  night,  a  few  young  men 
were  "  enjoying  themselves."  There  were 
glasses  on  the  table,  and  pipes  in  the  lips  of 
several.  The  room  was  full  of  smoke.  Two 
or  three  were  ''young  men,"  in  this  sense, 
that  they  were  in  the  employment  of  others, 
though  between  thirty  or  forty  years  of  age. 
They  had  cards  there  occasionally.  As  they 
were  dropping  away,  one  by  one,  for  some 


A  LIFE-STORY,  IN  SIX  SHORT  CHAPTERS.    65 

of  them  had  to  be  "  in"  by  half-past  ten, 
Thomas  was  invited  by  two  of  them  to  join 
them  in  a  *'  httle  run  to  the  country"  on  the 
next  Lord's  day.  They  were  older  than  he 
was.  It  was  rather  flattering  to  be  sure,  for 
them  to  ask  him,  but  he  had  a  misgiving 
about  "  its  being  Sunday."  They  quizzed 
him  a  little  about  it,  inquired  if  he  was  on 

trial   for  the   eldership   under   Mr. (the 

minister  whom  they  saw  calling  to  see  him), 
and  eventually  got  the  promise  that  he  would 
join  them.     He  kept  the  promise. 


IV. 


It  is  only  a  year  and  a-half  since  that  Sab- 
bath, but,  alas !  that  evil  works  so  rapidly  ! 
It  is  very  just  to  call  the  evil-doers  of  our 
cities  "  fast"  men.  Thomas's  father  is  with 
him  again.     He  has  come  to  settle  his  debts — 

at  the  tobacconists,'  at  the Hotel,  at  a 

couple  of  shops  where  his  father's  good  name 
was  known,  and  also  with  several  of  the 
young   men    to   whom    he   owed    money,  of 


66    A  LIFE-STORY,  IN  SIX  SHORT  CHAPTERS. 

which  neither  he  nor  they  gave  a  very  clear 
account.  His  father  looks  ten  years  older 
than  he  did  when  he  called  on  the  minister  be- 
fore, as  he  comes  again,  partly  to  get  advice, 
partly  to  get  sympathy,  partly  to  say  good-bye. 

"  Mr. advises  me  to  put  him  somewhere 

else.  He  did  not  like  to  dismiss  him  or  prose- 
cute him" — and  the  poor  heart-wounded  fa- 
ther's utterance  was  stopped — he  turned  sob- 
bing into  a  window — "  for  he  might  have  done 
that — and  he  hoped  the  separation  from  his 
companions  here  might,  with  this  disgrace, 
do  him  good."  And  Thomas  was  changed, 
too.  His  eye  had  lost  its  courage.  His  voice 
had  lost  its  clearness  and  firmness.  His  lips 
had  become  flabby  and  thick,  and  there  Avas  a 
certain  reserve — almost  sullenness,  about  him. 
His  color  was  gone — but  shame  might  have 
done  that — and  the  disagreeable,  nmvholesoine 
look  he  had  might  be  caused  by  the  showy 
dress  he  wore,  now  a  little  faded.  Thomas 
returned  home. 

His  father  was  buried  about  ten  months 
after.  He  died  of  no  particular  disease. 
His  only  son,  Thomas,  attended  his  funeral. 


A  LIFE-STORY,  IN  SIX  SHORT  CHAPTERS.    67 

and  afterwards  put  a  neat  tombstone  over  his 
grave.  He  might  have  put  upon  it,  "  Died, 
of  shame  and  grief,"  the  neighbors  said,  for 
he  "  never  held  up  his  head  after  Mr.  Thomas's 
return.' 


V. 


Thomas  is  back  again  in  the  city.  He  is 
his  own  master.  He  is  of  age.  Alas !  he  is 
not  "  of  discretion."  It  was  very  sad  to  see 
him  on  a  Monday  morning,  among  men  with 
coats  of  no  color  in  particular,  only  shining 
on  the  arms  and  shoulders — and  old  young 
women  with  bold,  bad,  begrimed  faces,  await- 
ing his  turn  to  be  brought  up.  He  had  evi- 
dently made  friends  with  a  couple  of  police- 
men, who  put  him  forward,  loudly  gave  out 
his  name  as  "  Mr.  Smith,"  detailed  the  "  drunk 
and  disorderly"  story  on  oath,  and  when  the 
"  five  shillings  or  forty-eight  hours"  was  en- 
tered, familiarly  took  him  from  the  place. 
He  is  greatly  changed  now.  He  has  fashion- 
able colored  kid  gloves  on,  is  much  stouter  in 
his  person,  yet  paler  in  complexion,  and  with 


63    A  LIFE-STORY,  IN  SIX  SHORT  CHAPTERS. 

a  certain  weakness  in  his  eyes  and  lips  that  is 
painful  to  look  at.  It  is  well,  perhaps,  that  he 
has  not  a  near  relative  in  the  country.  The 
only  relations  he  has  are  in  America,  and 
we  need  not  write  down  the  lansfuasfe  in 
which  he  declared  he  "  did  not  care  about 
them." 


VI. 


It  is  usually  sad  enough  to  enter  an  hospi- 
tal ward,  with  a  row  of  beds  on  each  side  of 
you,  and  each  with  its  own  story  of  pain. 
Sadder  still  to  sit  down  by  a  particular  bed, 
and  try  to  say  what  words  of  hope  you  can 
to  its  d3'ing  occupant,  almost  in  public,  for 
around  you  are  persons  of  "  all  religions  and 
no  religion."  But  it  is  saddest  of  all  if  you 
cannot  even  say  the  words  you  would  wish, 
for  delirium  or  stupor  has  barred  the  avenues 

to  the  soul.    And  so  it  was  with  Thomas , 

when  the  clergyman  whose  name  he  had  been 
heard  to  call  in  his  incoherent  wanderings 
reached  him.  The  resident  doctor  kindly 
led  him  to  the  bed,  and  the  minister  spoke  a 


A  LIFE-STORY,  IN  SIX  SHORT  CHAPTERS.    69 

word  or  two  of  friendly  notice.  "  No  use, 
sir,  he 's  rambling.  We  can't  keep  him  up 
either.  Bad  subject,  sir !  Likely  stupor  will 
come  on,  and  he  will  never  wake  out  of  it. 
Bad  subject,  sir!"  And  the  resident  doctoi 
walked  off,  leaving  it  to  the  minister's  discre- 
tion to  pray  or  not,  as  he  thought  proper,  be- 
side that  miserable  bed.  Perhaps  it  was  nat- 
ural for  the  doctor  to  take  it  thus.  He  was 
familiar  with  such  things.  "  Bless  you !  he 
often  saw  cases  like  this.  Fellows  who  lived 
fast — got  ill — had  no  stamina — could  not  be 
kept  up — went  off  in  a  day  or  two."  But  the 
minister  remembered  the  fine  bright  boy 
whom  his  father  brought  to  him — and  he  re- 
membered the  sobs  and  tears  of  the  father, 
as  he  took  him  away  again ;  and  he  sat 
down  on  the  bed-side.  He  could  not  help 
putting  himself  in  the  heart-broken  fath- 
er's place.  He  wept  there.  He  could  not 
help  it. 

A  few  days  after,  the  newspapers  announced 
among  the  deaths. 

"  On  the  23rd  instant,  at ,  of  conges- 
tion of  the  brain,  Thomas ,  only  surviv- 


70    A  LIFE-STORY   IN  SIX  SHORT  CHAPTERS. 

ing  child  of  the  late  Thomas  ,  Esq.,  of 

,  aged  twenty-three." 

It  was  inserted  by  the  solicitor  of  the  fam- 
ily, who  has  been  collecting  for  the  last  couple 
of  years  what  remains  of  the  property,  that  it 
may  be  sent  to  America  to  the  heir  at  law. 


SHINING   LIGHTS 


HRIST  our  Lord  is  the  Light  of  the 
world,  the  great  life-giving  Sun  of 
Righteousness.  His  Church  is  a  re- 
flector, giving  forth  His  light  while 
the  world  has  not  His  visible  presence.  She  is 
to  be  ''fair  as  the  moon."  "Ye  are  the  light 
of  the  world,"  He  said  to  his  disciples.  This 
imposes  great  responsibility  on  His  people. 
Let  them  look  to  it  that  they  shine.  No  man 
lights  a  candle  and  then  hides  it  away.  He 
puts  it  on  a  candlestick  and  sets  the  candle- 
stick in  the  best  place  for  giving  light  to  the 
whole  house.  "  Let  your  light  so  shine,  there- 
fore, that  men  may  see  your  good  works,  and 
glorify  your  Father  in  heaven."     When  He 

speaks  these  words  to  us,  as  He  does  every 

(71) 


72  SHINING  LIGHTS. 

time  we  read  them,  we  may  well  ask,  "  What 
light  have  we  to  exhibit?"  We  shall  be  all 
the  better  for  getting  an  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion. 

We  have  for  instance  the  truth  we  knoiv. 
When  the  one  boat  put  off  from  the  sinking 
London,  the  few  that  were  in  it  hoping  against 
hope,  the  man  who  could  steer  the  boat,  and 
who  had  got  the  "  course  "  from  Captain  Mar- 
tin, had  a  certain  light  of  which  he  was  bound 
to  make  the  best  use  for  the  saving  of  his  own 
life  and  the  life  of  the  men  that  were  with  him. 
So  if  we  have  learned  the  doctrine  of  salva- 
tion from  the  great  Teacher,  we  have  a  light 
to  hold  up.  The  man  Avho  joins  an  Evangel- 
ical Church,  so  far  holds  forth  an  Evangelical 
light.  He  witnesses  for  Unitarianism  if  he 
joins  a  Unitarian  Church,  for  Romanism  if  he 
becomes  a  Romanist.  If  he  joins  no  Church,  he 
shows  none  of  this  light.  He  is  practically 
saying  that  light  is  of  no  great  value.  To 
join  a  club,  or  an  insurance  company,  or  a 
scientific  society,  is  not  to  show  any  light  in 
this  sense,  for  these  bodies  profess  nothing 
religious.     The  more  definite  the  creed  of  a 


SHINING  LIGHTS.  73 

Chtirch,  the  more  decided  the  light  our  join- 
ing it  gives  forth.  The  apostles  were  always 
very  careful  about  this  matter.  They  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  any  who  did  not  bring 
with  him  the  true  doctrine — would  neither 
have  him  with  them  nor  bid  him  God-speed. 
Men  should  feel  their  responsibility  on  this 
point.  They  should  ask,  "  Am  I  giving  my 
name  and  influence  to  truth,  or  error,  or  to 
a  useless  mixture  of  both  ?  Am  I  by  this 
Church-connection  of  mine  standing  up  for 
the  truth  ?  Does  my  light  shine  ?  Will  men 
know  when  they  see  me  here  that  I  believe 
Evangelical  doctrine  ?" 

In  the  life  we  live,  too,  we  have  a  light  to 
show.  Talk  is  proverbially  cheap,  and  pro- 
fession is  easy.  But  if  our  creed  overmasters 
our  passions,  our  follies,  and  our  temporal  in- 
terests, and  makes  us  what  it  requires  us  to 
be,  we  have  a  light  to  show.  But  how  is  it 
with  the  man  Avho  is  drunk  every  market 
day  ?  with  the  man  whose  temper  is  ungov- 
ernable, and  whose  tongue  is  unbridled  ?  How 
is  it  Avith  the  extortioner  or  the  grasping 
money-maker,  of  whom  all  his  neighbors 
4 


74  SHINING  LIGHTS. 

know  that  he  will  lie,  or  take  an  advantage  for 
a  shilling  ?  The  apostles  were  very  careful 
about  this  light.  Paul  had  a  right  to  be  main- 
tained, but  for  the  sake  of  the  light,  he  would 
not  exercise  his  right.  He  wished  to  be  above 
suspicion.  He  could  say — "  Ye  are  witnesses, 
and  God  also,  how  holily  and  justly  and  un- 
blamably  we  behaved  ourselves  among  you 
that  believe."  He  took  no  liberties,  indulged 
in  no  levity,  and  never  forgot  himself  even 
where  "  believers"  might  be  supposed  to  "  un- 
derstand him."  He  would  be  a  living  epistle 
of  Christ,  known  and  read  of  all  men.  This 
light  in  the  life  is  sadly  wanted  to  demonstrate . 
the  reality  of  religion.  It  is  most  natural  for 
non-professors  to  inquire,  "  Why  should  I 
profess  religion  ?  I  don't  see  any  great  effect 
it  has  on  professors." 

But  you  can  have,  over  and  above  this,  the 
light  of  the  positive  good  yoii  do.  Beyond  the 
ordinary  requirement  of  a  man's  passive  obe- 
dience, there  are  certain  active  efforts  a  Chris- 
tian can  make,  and  as  he  has  opportunity 
should  make.  Now  and  then  a  fellow-crea- 
ture who  has  fallen  among  thieves  will  come 


SHINING  LIGHTS.  75 

in  his  way,  to  whom  he  can  be  the  good  Sa- 
maritan. There  will  be  persons  of  a  sorrow- 
ful spirit,  to  whom  he  can  speak  words  of 
good  cheer.  There  will  be  now  and  then  a 
young  ApoUos,  with  gifts,  if  they  were  but 
directed,  whom  he  may  help  much.  There 
may  be  a  Lazarus  about  his  gate,  to  clothe,  or 
feed,  or  refresh,  or  visit  whom,  for  Christ's 
sake,  will  not  be  beneath  Christ's  notice. 
These  services  give  a  lightwe  can  hold  forth. 
A  man  who  reads  and  ponders,  and  translates 
into  the  vernacular  of  his  common  life  the 
Epistle  of  James,  will  hold  forth  such  a  light. 
"  Pure  religion  and  undefiled  before  God  and 
the  Father  is  this — to  visit  the  fatherless  and 
widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep  himself 
unspotted  from  the  world."  There  are  re- 
gions where  this  light  is  specially  required. 
A  neglected  hamlet  of  Protestants  is  a  re- 
proach to  the  Church  members  of  the  place. 
An  uncared-for  family  going  unwarned  and 
unheeded  to  ruin  is  a  stain  on  the  Christian 
character  of  professedly  Christian  neighbors. 
Orphans  neglected  and  allowed  to  fall  into 
open  sin  give  just  occasion  to  doubt  the  qua]- 


76  SHINING  LIGHTS. 

ity  of  the  religion  of  those  about  them.  And 
there  are  wide  districts  and  large  masses  of 
men  in  this  land  whom  we  do  not  see  any  way 
of  reaching  but  by  the  sustained,  silent  power 
of  practical  and  active  godliness  on  the  part 
of  true  Christians.  See,  then,  that  you  have 
this  threefold  light — a  profession  of  the  truth, 
a  consistent  life,  and  a  measure  of  Christian 
activity.  You  get  the  truth  in  the  Word  of 
God  ;  and  you  can  profess  it  in  connection 
with  His  Church.  Of  course,  it  follows  un- 
doubtedly from  this  that  you  should  be  a 
member  of  a  Church.  Unquestionably  you 
fail  in  duty  if  you  are  not.  To  treat  the 
Church  of  Christ  as  if  it  were  a  self-constitut- 
ed body  which  you  may  join  or  not,  as  suits 
your  whim,  as  though  it  were  a  club,  or  a 
literary  society,  is  to  insult  the  Saviour,  and 
betray  total  ignorance  or  contempt  of  His 
truth.  Join  a  Church  that  commends  itself 
to  your  conscience  by  its  conformity  to  the 
Word.  Take  your  share  of  its  responsibili- 
ties. We  fear  that  they  who  do  no  good  in 
congregations  rarely  get  much  good  from 
them. 


SHINING  LIGHTS.  77 

That  you  may  have  light,  be  sure  you  have 
life.  When  the  Atlantic  cable  is  alive,  that  is 
when  its  insulation  is  perfect,  and  it  is  fitted 
for  its  work,  a  bright  light  is  reflected  on  a 
mirror  and  thence  on  a  dial,  and  its  move- 
ments give  the  signs.  When  it  is  dead — that 
is  when  its  insulation  is  destroyed  and  the 
current  is  running  to  the  earth — that  light 
disappears.  So  when  the  soul  is  alive,  its 
light  shines ;  when  it  is  dead,  there  is  dark- 
ness. 

The  manner  in  which  this  light  is  to  be  held 
up,  is  obviously  of  some  importance — "  So 
shine  that  they  may  see  your  good  works, 
and  glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 
The  first  requisite  is  that  we  show  the  light 
to  be  borrowed,  that  men  may  glorify,  not  us, 
but  our  Father  in  heaven.  This  precludes  all 
ostentation,  against  which  our  Lord  elsewhere 
gives  a  warning — "Let  not  your  left  hand 
know  what  your  right  hand  doeth."  No 
trumpet  is  to  be  sounded  before  us  as  we  give 
our  alms.  And  it  precludes  all  fitfulness.  A 
candle  that  burns  in  starts  is  the  next  thing  to 
useless.     It  is  the  steady,  uniform  light  that 


78  SHINING  LIGHTS. 

serves.  An  intermitting  light  does  not  en- 
lighten. It  shows  where  a  rock  is.  All  self- 
seeking  is  thus  precluded.  If  a  man  is  secret- 
ly thinking  of  the  impression  to  be  made  in 
his  favor,  by  the  gold  he  puts  on  the  plate, 
or  the  poor  he  feeds,  or  clothes,  or  ad- 
vances, or  the  rich  donations  or  bequests  he 
makes,  he  comes  short  of  this  injunction. 
It  enjoins  courage  and  decision  for  good 
and  for  God's  glory.  Let  your  light  thus 
shine. 

There  are  some  better  than  they  seem. 
Partly  from  timidity  and  self-distrust,  partly 
from  temperament,  partly  from  a  kind  of 
pride,  they  conceal  their  religion.  They  do 
pray  in  secret,  strive  against  sin,  read  the 
Bible,  but  they  wear  an  air  of  indifference  or 
of  apathy.  They  have  no  right  to  do  this. 
They  violate  a  plain  command.  They  are  not 
thus  the  "  light  of  the  world."  And  there  are 
others  who  start  with  an  altogether  erroneous 
idea  as  to  the  nature  of  true  religion.  They 
think  of  it  as  something  to  soothe  and  tran- 
quilize  them  and  make  them  comfortable.  It 
terminates  on  themselves.     Nov/,  God  never 


SHINING  LIGHTS.  79 

meant  religion  to  terminate  on  itself.  He  en- 
lightens to  enable  us  to  shine,  and  we  very 
much  doubt  if  there  be  any  force  in  all  nature, 
or  any  gift  or  any  work  of  God,  that  is  self- 
contained  or  non-communicative.  Certainly 
He  is  not  Himself,  for  He  is  always  giving  to 
all.  Not  so  His  Son,  who  said — "  It  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  Not  so  the 
Holy  Ghost,  who  is  ever  giving  light  and  joy 
and  peace.  Not  the  angels,  who  are  all  min- 
istering spirits  sent  forth  to  minister  to  the 
heirs  of  salvation.  Nor  in  nature  do  we  find 
anything  great  shut  up  in  self  Not  the  sun, 
or  moon,  or  stars,  whose  beams  fill  every  land. 
Not  the  sea,  whose  broad  expanse  gives  forth 
the  vapors  that  water  the  earth.  Not  the  riv- 
ers, that  give  back  their  gathered  wealth  to 
the  sea.  Not  the  land,  that  gives  its  harvests. 
Not  the  air,  that  forms  the  vital  breath  of  all 
things.  Not  even  the  lightning,  which  men 
long  thought  a  wanton  and  vindictive  power, 
but  which,  better  understood,  is  seen  to  be  a 
force  inherent — a  sort  of  soul  in  matter,  which 
will  stoop  to  be  yoked  to  man's  instruments, 
and  with  the  speed  of  thought  carry  his  mes- 


8o  SHIXIiVG  LIGHTS. 

sages  over  cheerless  waters  and  through  the 
trackless  paths  of  ocean  depths,  filling  up  a 
sense  which  the  sacred  writers  never  contem- 
plated in  the  words,  "  His  lightnings  lightened 
the  world."  And  should  it  be  that  God  shines 
into  man's  heart  to  give  the  light  of  the  know- 
ledge of  His  glory,  for  man  to  hide  the  light? 
No,  truly ;  this  were  to  convert  into  a  posses- 
sion what  God  ties  up  as  a  trust,  and  bids  us 
use  for  the  creature's  good. 

There  are  unhappily  all  too  many  at  present 
either  directly  or  indirectly  setting  aside  the 
truth  of  God's  Word.  It  is  a  good  thing  to 
be  able  and  ready  to  stand  up  for  it.  In  a 
party  of  gentlemen  in  a  public  room,  as  the 
amusement  proceeded,  one  indulged  in  lan- 
guage which  happily  nearly  all  gentlemen, 
irreligious  as  well  as  religious,  have  given  up. 
His  neighbor  said  to  him,  "  Now,  my  dear  sir, 
I  beg  you  will  not  think  I  am  given  to  cant, 
for  I  am  not  specially  good,  I  assure  you  ; 
but  your  language  pains  me  excessively.  Do 
pray  leave  out  these  phrases."  The  thing  was 
done  with  the  most  gentlemanly  frankness, 
and  received  so.    "  What  a  good  fellow  he  is," 


SHINING  LIGHTS.  8i 

said  the  reproved  one  to  the  friend  who  was 
present,  and  who  reports  to  us  the  case,  when 
they  met  the  next  day.  ''  Upon  my  word  I 
never  felt  so  ashamed  in  my  life,  and  I  don't 
nean  ever  to  do  it  again." 

Let  us  feel  and  show  kindness,  especially  to 
those  nearest  to  us.  There  are  good  people 
who,  perhaps,  join  the  Evangelical  Alliance, 
and  go  to  its  meetings  in  Geneva,  or  Paris 
and  love  their  brethren  at  a  distance.  The 
Episcopalian  missionaries  in  Tinnevelly  they 
admire  and  esteem,  but  they  have  no  great 
affection  for  the  Episcopalians  of  the  next 
parish ;  or  they  feel  kindly  to  Dr.  Duff  or  Dr. 
Chalmers,  or  other  ''  beloved  dissenting  breth- 
ren "  in  India,  or  in  glory  ;  but  the  honest  men 
who  are  toiling  at  their  very  door  they  have 
never  regarded  cordially.  This  is  a  doubtful 
kind  of  affection.  The  light  of  a  candle  is 
strongest  nearest  the  candle.  The  love  that 
only  reaches  the  remote,  and  leaps  over  the 
near,  is  a  romance,  not  a  reality.  Love  those 
whose  foibles  and  weaknesses  you  see,  in  spite 
of  them,  and  show  that  love  in  all  becoming 
and  suitable  ways. 

4* 


82  SHINING  LIGHTS. 

One  cannot  shine  in  ways  like  these  without 
some  vigilance.  The  candle  will  burn  dimly, 
and  obscuring  influences  must  be  watched 
against.  Christians  get  too  fond  of  human 
applause,  or  earthly  possessions,  or  carnal  in- 
dulgences. Their  lamps  come  to  need  trim- 
ming. Even  the  abundance  of  privileges 
may  be  an  evil — the  wick  is  in  danger  of 
being  drowned  in  the  oil.  And  we  must 
guard  against  being  badly  situated.  We  may 
be  ill-placed — not  "on  a  candlestick."  If 
men  go  to  theatres,  race-courses,  gambling- 
houses,  and  such  like  places,  the  main  and 
obvious  design  of  which — that  for  which  they 
are — is  against  the  Christian  cause,  they  can- 
not shine  there.  They  debar  themselves  from 
shining.  They  go  into  an  atmosphere  in 
which  the  Christian  taper  will  not  burn.  Let 
the  candle  fill  "  all  the  house."  That  were  a 
strange  light  surely  that  illumined  the  whole 
village  and  left  the  room  it  burned  in  black  as 
night.  If  you  could  produce  it  you  would 
have  the  type  of  a  religion  that  is  felt  every- 
where but  at  home,  or  of  that  louder  type  of 
hollow   profession   that   sounds  forth   in   the 


SHINING  LIGHTS.  83 

"  Christian  world,"  and  is  perfectly  useless  in 
its  own  congregation ! 

On  the  whole,  the  good  lamp  burns  noise- 
lessly. When  the  candle  hisses  and  sputters, 
or  when  the  gas  is  making  monotonous  music, 
there  is  something  wrong.  The  '*  silent  stars," 
the  quiet  moon,  or  the  great  bright  voiceless 
sun,  these  may  be  studied  with  advantage  by 
those  Christians  who  think  they  can  only  tes- 
tify by  shouting  vehemence,  or  "gushing" 
unctuous  declarations.  Strive  so,  dear  friends, 
if  you  can,  that  you  shall  be  as  little  noticed  as 
possible,  but  that  your  Heavenly  Father  shall 
be  praised.  Perhaps  you  are  poor,  but  trying 
to  seem  rich  ;  or  with  little  culture,  seeking  to 
be  thought  learned  ;  or  being  a  "  plain  per- 
son," you  are  trying  to  be  "  striking,"  or  im- 
pressive, or  polished  ;  or  being  worldly,  try- 
ing to  have  a  character  for  religion.  -Give 
over  the  effort.  It  is  most  wearisome.  It  is 
"  double,  double,  toil  and  trouble."  It  gets 
you  into  many  of  your  difficulties.  It  takes 
all  ease  out  of  your  life.  Be  real.  Have  one 
aim,  not  two  or  three.  Let  your  eye  be  single. 
Do  not  look  one  way  and  pull   another,  as 


84  SHINING  LIGHTS. 

rowers  must  do.  Let  your  eyes  look  right  on. 
Live  a  simple,  natural,  true  life,  with  one  main 
purpose  running  all  along  it,  and  that  purpose 
*'  that  men  may  glorify  your  Father  which  is 
in  Heaven." 


*-^/ 


THE    QUESTION    EVERY    ONE 
SHOULD    ASK. 

"  LORD,  WHAT  WILT  THOU   HAVE  ME  TO   DO  ?" 


HE  attentive  reader  of  Scripture  will 
recollect  in  what  solemn  circum- 
stances Saul  of  Tarsus  asked  the 
above  question  (Acts  ix.  6).  The 
presence  and  words  of  Christ,  and  the  work- 
ing of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  his  soul  had  awak- 
ened in  him  a  sense  of  guilt,  danger  and  ob- 
ligation. He  now  knew  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
to  be  the  Lord,  whom  he  was,  therefore, 
bound  to  obey.  We  cannot  say  whether  he 
expected  directions  as  to  his  own  personal, 
salvation,  or,  more  generally,  directions  as  to 
his  future  line  of  conduct,  or  v/hether  he 
guessed,  in  the  hurry  and  excitement  of  the 
scene,  that  this  special  appearance  must  be  in 

(85) 


86  THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK. 

order  to  some  special  work  he  should  under- 
take. Nor  is  it  necessary  to  settle  this.  The 
Lord  sent  him  to  a  despised  follower  to  re- 
ceive the  necessary  instruction  —  a  salutary 
lesson,  perhaps,  to  a  proud-minded  Pharisee, 
and  an  honor  put  on  human  instrumentality 
in  spiritual  work. 

We  can  conceive  this  question  put  by  per- 
sons in  very  different  conditions  both  of 
knowledge  and  of  feeling.  The  answer  must 
be  shaped  by  the  state  of  the  inquirer. 

Let  us  suppose,  for  example,  a  man  of  fair 
intelligence  in  ordinary  things,  who  has  never 
seriously  made  up  his  mind  about  religious 
truth,  who  is  devoid  of  settled  convictions 
as  to  what  he  should  believe,  to  ask — "  Lord, 
what  wilt  TJioiL  have  me  to  do  f' 

We  reply  to  him  in  the  words  of  the  Lord, 
"  Search  the  Scriptures"  (John  v.  39).  There 
must  be  some  distinction  between  truth  and 
error,  right  and  wrong.  Your  own  con- 
science, we  should  say  to  him,  tells  you  this. 
You  are  bound  to  inquire  into  the  distinction. 
You  are  responsible  for  the  opinions  you 
hold.     To  take  them  up  on  slight  and  insuf- 


THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK.  87 

ficient  grounds,  without  careful  examination, 
is  not  only  unworthy  of  any  rational  being; 
it  is  highly  criminal.  You  have  a  soul ;  in 
what  state  is  it  ?  Good  or  bad  ?  Is  it  im- 
mortal ?  If  so,  how  is  it  to  live  out  its  life, 
happily  or  wretchedly  ?  Is  there  anything 
you  have  to  do  about  this  point  ?  What  is 
it  ?  Have  you  done  it  ?  Is  all  doubt  on  the 
subject  removed  ?  A  man  had  a  heavy 
lawsuit,  on  the  issue  of  which  it  depended 
whether  he  should  be  penniless  or  comfort- 
able. As  it  was  being  called  on,  he  turned, 
with  an  anxious  face  to  the  conducting  attor- 
ney, and  said — ^^  Now  have  zve  done  everything 
that  can  be  done?'  If  this  should  fall  into  the 
hands  of  any  one  who  has  not  made  up  his 
mind  about  religious  truth,  we  would  ear- 
nestly beg  him  to  set  about  it.  Dear  friend, 
you  know  that  there  is  a  Bible,  a  book  that 
professes  to  be  from  God,  and  that  many 
people  found  the  most  solemn  conclusions  on 
it.  If  it  is  true,  you  will  have  a  most  miser- 
able existence  forever,  unless  you  believe  in 
Jesus  Chrst.  It  is  bad  to  be  an  unbeliever. 
It   i?   bad  to  have  convictions,  and   not  act 


88   THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK. 

upon  them.  But  it  is  dreadfully  insulting  to 
the  Most  High  practically  to  say  to  Him, 
"  Lord,  I  heard  I  had  a  soul  to  be  saved  or 
lost,  and  that  the  Bible  explained  all  about  it, 
but  I  never  thought  it  worth  my  while  to 
look  into  the  subject."  How  could  any  man 
face  the  Judge  of  all  with  this  statement  ? 
Consider  this  thing,  and  make  up  your  mind. 
Not  to  consider  it  is  to  perish.  Not  to  have 
thought  of  it  is  to  decide  for  destruction. 
"  The  turning  away  of  the  simple  shall  slay 
them  "  (Prov.  i.  32).  "  How  long,  ye  simple 
ones,  will  ye  love  simplicity,  and  the  scorners 
delight  in  their  scorning,  and  fools  hate  knowl- 
edge?" (Prov.  i.  22). 

Suppose  a  man  whose  feelings  and  general 
convictions  are  in  favor  of  Bible  truth,  who 
owns  its  authority,  though  he  has  never  re- 
ceived it,  to  say — '■'■Lord,  zvJiat  wilt  TJioii  have 
me  to  do  ? 

We  reply  at  once — Learn  your  own  state. 
You  bow  to  Scriptural  authority.  Take  the 
Word  and  see  hov/  your  soul  stands  in  God's 
sight.  Are  you  pleasing  to  God's  holy  eye  ? 
or  are  you  in  sin  ?     "  Fools  make  a  mock  at 


THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK.  89 

it"  (Prov.  xiv.  9),  but,  "the  wages  of  sin  is 
death"  (Rom.  vi.  23).     Are  you  in  a  neutral 
state,  or  at  enmity  with  God  ?     The  latter  is 
the  Scripture  account  of  you.     "  The  carnal 
mind  is  enmity  against  God"  (Rom.  viii.  7.) 
If  you  see  yourself  as  the  Bible  paints  you, 
you  will  know  that  you  are  wicked,  and  if 
you  see  God  as  the  Bible  paints  Him,  in  His 
justice   and  holiness,  you  cannot  but   say — 
"  Surely  thou  wilt  slay  the  wicked,  O  God  " 
(Psalm  cxxxix.  19).     Then  are  you  to  be  slain 
of  God  ?     For  He  slays  thus — "  The  wicked 
shall  be  turned  into  hell,  and  all  the  nations 
that  forget  God"  (Psalm  ix.  7).     Are  you  on 
the  road  to   hell  ?     Are  you   nearer  it  than 
when   you    rose   this    morning?      Does    the 
new  year  bring  you  a  year  nearer  it  ?     "  God 
is  angry  with  the  wicked  every  day"  (Psalm 
vii.  11).     Does  it  not  make  you  ashamed  to 
feel  that  he  who  is  love  is  always  displeased 
with  you  ?     Do  you  mean  that  it  should  al- 
ways be  so?     What  are  you  to  do?     Shake 
off  the  wickedness  ?     You  may  try  that,  per- 
haps you  may  have  tried  it.      You  cannot. 
As  soon  might  the  negro  hope  to  change  his 


90  THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK. 

skin.  You  may  forget  it :  but  God  will  not. 
"  He  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty"  (Ex- 
odus XX.  5).  You  may  try  to  do  better  for 
the  future.  But  what  "of  the  past  ?  And  all 
the  time  you  are  trying  this  because  3^ou  fear 
hell,  Christ  looks  down  and  says — "I  know 
you  that  ye  have  not  the  love  of  God  in  you" 
(John  V.  42).  And  all  the  time  you  are  labor- 
ing after  amendment  and  going  about  "  to 
establish  your  own  righteousness"  (Rom.  x.  3), 
the  Lord's  recorded  sentence  stands  over 
against  your  name — ''  The  wrath  of  God  is 
revealed  from  heaven  against  all  ungodliness 
and  unrighteousness  of  men "  (Rom.  i.  32). 
What  will  become  of  you  ?  When  you  pray, 
you  know  sin  comes  before  God,  and  He 
is  not  bound  to  hear  you  any  more  than  to 
hear  Saul,  when  "  He  answered  him  not 
either  by  dreams,  nor  by  Urim,  nor  by 
prophets"  (i  Sam.  xxviii.  6).  If  you  see  this, 
dear  reader,  you  cannot  be  unconcerned  any 
mo'  e.  You  must  be  troubled.  You  must  cry 
out,  "  Lord  save  me  ?"  But  as  long  as  you 
acknowledge  no  guilt,  and  feel  no  danger,  we 
can  have  no  hope  of  you.     O  that  we  heard 


THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK.  91 

you  confessing  your  sin  and  saying,  "  O  God, 
thou  knowest  my  foolishness,  and  my  sin  is 
not  hid  from  thee"  (Ps.  Ixix.  5).  O  that  we 
saw  you  whose  hearts  are  whole,  and  who  are 
unconcerned,  "  trembling  and  astonished 
like  Saul  of  Tarsus !  Christ  will  not  come  to 
you,  as  to  him.  He  is  coming  to  you,  plead- 
ing with  you  in  the  Word.  You  have  no 
right  to  look  for  any  revelation  but  that  of 
Holy  Scripture.  "Awake  thou  that  sleepest 
and  arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give 
thee  light"  (Eph.  v.  14).  When  it  was  asked, 
in  the  parable,  that  a  messenger  should  be 
sent  from  heaven  to  keep  certain  men  out  of 
hell,  the  reply  was — ''They  have  Moses  and 
the  prophets,  let  them  hear  them  "  (Luke  xvi. 
31).  Men  now  have  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
Christ  and  the  apostles,  "  Let  them  hear 
them."  TJiat  is  the  %vay  to  keep  out  of  hell. 
And  any  one  who  is  not  moved  by  them 
would  remain  unmoved  by  an  actual  mes- 
senger from  the  world  of  spirits.  "  If  they 
hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither 
would  they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose 
from  the  dead." 


92  THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK. 

Suppose  a  man  alive  to  his  sinful  and 
dangerous  condition  to  put  the  question — • 
(Oh  !  that  we  heard  it  oftener !) — "  Lord,  what 
wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  f 

The  answer  is  already  to  our  hand.  The 
Apostle  Paul,  no  longer  an  inquirer,  but  an 
earnest,  rejoicing  believer  and  preacher, 
speaking  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  has  given  it. 
"  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved."  You  are  not  to  believe  in 
your  sorrow  for  sin.  It  is  all  too  little,  and 
it  cannot  atone ;  nor  in  your  intention  to 
amend,  for  it  is  worthless,  and  may  be  for- 
gotten ;  nor  in  yourself  in  any  shape  ;  "  He 
that  trusteth  in  his  own  heart  is  a  fool"  (Prov. 
xxviii.  26) ;  nor  is  the  thing  to  be  believed 
that  you  are  saved,  or  are  a  child  of  God  ; 
He  has  not  chosen  to  reveal  His  mercy  in 
that  form.  You  are  to  "  believe  in  Jesus 
Christ,"  a  Person ;  a  Divine  Person ;  a  Di- 
vine Person  commended  to  you  by  the  wit- 
ness of  His  Father  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as 
having  died  to  save  sinners,  and  as  being  able 
to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that  come  unto 
God  by  Him.     You  arc  not  to  believe  that 


THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK.  93 

Jesus  Christ,  milder  and  more  loving  than 
His  Holy  Father,  has  brought  Him  round  to 
favor  you.  This  is  to  dishonor  the  Father  in 
a  most  dreadful  manner.  You  are  to  believe 
that  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave 
His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  Him"  may  be  saved  (John  iii.  16). 
You  are  not  to  believe  in  Christ  and  the 
Church ;  or  Christ  and  the  minister ;  or 
Christ  and  the  sacraments ;  or  Christ  and 
your  repentance,  earnestness,  works,  or  faith, 
but  in  Christ  alone.  His  obedience  and  death 
satisfy  God's  law  which  you  broke ;  and  God 
has  made  this  public  by  His  words  when  He 
declared  He  was  well  pleased  with  Him,  and 
by  raising  Him  from  the  dead,  giving  Him 
glory,  and  sending  down  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  coming  of  Christ  out  of  the  prison-house 
proves  the  settlement  of  the  debt.  God's 
angel  came  and  rolled  away  the  stone,  and 
\xithout  hurry  or  trepidation  Jesus  came  out 
of  the  tomb,  the  very  grave-clothes  bearing 
witness  to  the  freedom  of  His  movements. 
He  did  not  break  out  of  custody,  but  was 
honorably    discharged   as    having    paid    the 


94   THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK. 

uttermost  farthing.  Dear  friend,  believe  in 
Him.  He  is  tile  Saviour,  the  one,  only,  suf- 
ficient Saviour.  Neither  angel  nor  man  laid 
down  his  life  for  you ;  nor  would  such  a 
death  avail  you  anything.  "  He  died  once.' 
It  was  enough.  And  now,  any  sinner,  of  anj: 
land,  or  Church,  or  time,  and  of  any  degree 
of  guilt,  who  will  believe  in  Him  will  be  saved, 
simply  for  His  sake  and  without  respect  to 
anything  else  whatever.  This  is  sure  from 
God's  Word.  To  you  is  the  word  of  this 
salvation  sent.  When  you  have  read  so  far 
in  this  paper  you  have  had  an  offer  of  salva- 
tion made  to  you — salvation  as  free  to  you  as 
the  water  in  the  well,  or  the  light  and  air 
above  you.  "  Whosoever  will,  let  him  take 
the  water  of  life  freely"  (Rev.  xxii.  17). 

To  tell  this  to  a  careless  man  may  be  the 
means  in  God's  hand  of  suggesting  to  him 
his  need ;  but  if  we  know  him  to  be  careless, 
we  are  bound  to  treat  him  as  Christ  treated 
careless  men,  as  Peter  treated  them,  and  as 
Paul  treated  them.  We  are  bound  to  show 
them  their  danger,  the  need  of  fleeing  from 
the  wrath  to  come,  and  the  way  of  deliver- 


THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK.  95 

ance.  But  when  men  are  asking,  like  Peter's 
congregation  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  or 
like  the  jailer,  "  What  must  we  do?"  we  have 
no  more  to  do  than  tell  them  this  one  thing. 
We  have  no  choice  of  topics  left  us — no  dis- 
cretion whatever.  We  are  commanded  to 
say  to  them,  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

Suppose  one  who  has  heard  and  believed 
the  Gospel  to  ask,  ^^  Lord,  zuhaf  wilt  Thou 
have  me  to  do?'' 

We  reply,  as  in  the  Psalm  (xlv.  11),  "  He  is 
thy  Lord,  and  worship  thou  Him."  Confess 
Him  before  men  in  all  proper — that  is,  in  all 
Scriptural — ways.  Go  "  to  your  owm  com- 
pany," the  company  of  the  people  of  Christ 
(Acts  iv.  23).  Show  that  you  have  been 
"  added  to  the  Lord,"  by  your  being  "  added 
to  His  Church  "  (Acts  ii.  41,  47).  The  Chris- 
tian Church  may  not  seem  to  you  all  it  ought 
to  be  ;  but  it  is  infinitely  better  and  nearer  to 
you  than  the  world  in  Vv^hich  you  were  till 
God  called  you.  Enter  into  the  labors,  join 
in  bearing  the  burdens,  share  the  joys,  and 
endure   the   sorrows   of    the    Lord's    people. 


96   THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK. 

Let  it  be  seen  that  they  arc  your  people,  and 
their  God  your  God.  So  did  Saul  of  Tarsus 
when  he  believed.  So  did  the  Philippian 
jailer.  So  did  Lydia  and  her  household.  So 
when  little  groups  of  men  believed  in  Corinth, 
Ephesus,  and  Philippi,  they  came  together  as 
Christian  Churches,  edified  and  helped  one 
another,  had  officers  among  them  whom  they 
honored  for  their  works'  sake,  who  instructed 
them  and  presided  in  the  regulating  of  their 
Church  matters,  according  to  the  law  of  the 
Lord  ;  and  of  whom  the  Spirit  of  God  said, 
"  Obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you, 
and  submit  yourselves  ;  for  they  watch  for 
your  souls  as  they  that  must  give  account, 
that  they  may  do  it  with  joy,  and  not  with 
grief:  for  this  is  unprofitable  for  you." 
Christ's  house  is  not  like  a  common,  but  like 
a  vineyard  :  "  A  garden  enclosed  is  my  sister, 
my  spouse  "  (Song  iv.  13).  "  If  the  people  of 
the  land  take  a  man  of  their  coasts  and  set 
him  for  their  watchman  "  (Ezek.  xxxiii.  2),  he 
is  bound  to  them  and  they  are  bound  to  him. 
There  is  recognized  and  definite  obligation 
on  both.     So  we  say  to  believing  men  and 


THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK.  97 

women,  Be  under  "  oversight  "  with  the  rest 
of  the  flock  (Acts  xx.  28,  and  i  Peter  v.  2). 
You  may  have  something-  to  bear  with,  some- 
thing to  mourn  over,  something  to  seek  to 
amend.  You  have  the  Master's  command  for 
all  these,  but  you  have  no  command  from 
Him  to  go  on  your  solitary  way,  if  there  are 
fellow-pilgrims  near  you.  You  will  best  show 
your  love  to  the  saints  by  fellowship  with 
them.  Those  were  good  days  when,  amid 
much  remaining  ignorance,  selfishness,  and 
other  imperfections  which  soon  enough  show- 
ed themselves,  the  believers  continued  stead- 
fastly in  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship, 
and  in  the  breaking  of  bread,  and  in  prayers 
(Acts  ii.  42). 

Suppose  one  who  is  in  the  membership  of 
the  Church  to  put  this  question,  ^^  Lord,  zvJiat 
wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  f 

We  would  send  the  questioner  to  consider 
the  language  he  uses.  "Lord'' — so  He  is  your 
master,  dear  friend.  You  own  His  Lordship. 
"  Thou  have  me  " — no  matter  what  my  friends, 
or  my  neighbors,  or  usage,  or  even  the  rest 
of  my  brethren  might  think  enough,  Thou, 
5 


qs  the  question  every  one  should  ask. 

my  Lord,  art  the  one  competent  authority  I 
own  and  must  obey.  "  WJiat  wilt  Thou  " — ■ 
anything  that  pleaseth  Thee  will  please  me, 
no  matter  whether  it  seem  "  dignified,"  or 
"  responsible,"  or  •'  complimentary,"  or  "  la- 
borious," or  "obscure."  "71?  do''  —  I  have 
learned  to  believe  and  to  feel ;  "  what  am  I  to 
do  f"  Dear  friend,  do  you  mean  this,  when 
you  put  the  question  ?  The  Church  is  some- 
times afflicted  with  men  who  will  be  their 
own  masters.  They  "  must  be  humored." 
They  must  get  their  way,  or  they  will  do 
nothing.  They  have  to  learn  the  very  first 
principles  of  service.  We  ask  you  then  to 
take  work  at  Christ's  hand.  Only  be  ready, 
and  it  will  come  to  you. 

Sometimes  it  will  come  casually,  as  if  b}^ 
accident,  "  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to 
do,  do  it  with  thy  might  "  (Eccles.  ix.  lo). 
Sometimes  the  Church  will  ask  you  to  do  it. 
So  the  deacons  found  work  in  Acts  vi.  So 
Paul  and  Barnabas  found  missionary  work  in 
Acts  xiii.  Sometimes  the  work  will  be  forced 
on  you,  as  it  was  on  Stephen  before  the 
Council,  or  on  Paul  when  he  had  to  withstand 


THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK.  gg 

Peter.  Sometimes  it  will  arise  out  of  your 
own  right  affections,  as  when  the  good  centu- 
rion loved  the  Lord's  nation,  and  built  them 
a  synagogue  ;  as  when  the  grateful  women 
brought  spices  to  anoint  the  body  of  Jesus. 
Oh,  how  much  needs  to  be  done  for  His  mys- 
tical body  !  Come  with  the  fragrant  spices 
of  truth  and  love,  of  generosity  and  large- 
mindedness,  of  gentleness  and  of  joyous  ac- 
tivity !  Sometimes  duty  wall  arise  out  of  the 
gifts  you  have.  You  can  "  speak  well,"  and 
some  Moses,  meek  yet  mighty,  needs  a  mouth. 
You  have  money;  and  the  "poor  saints" 
somewhere  are  in  want  of  it.  You  have  in- 
fluence, and  some  "  prisoner  of  the  Lord  " 
much  needs  a  friend.  You  can  "  make  coats 
and  garments,"  and  how  many  widows  there 
are  !  You  are  ''  apt  to  teach,"  and  how  many 
are  ignorant !  But  I  need  not  linger  over 
details.  Dear  believer,  have  something  to  do 
for  the  Lord.  Do  it  as  to  Him.  Never  mind 
how  it  looks  to  men,  so  as  your  good  be  not 
evil  spoken  of,  which  it  is  sure  to  be  if  you 
are  unwise,  affected,  self-seeking,  eccentric, 
or  boastful.     Maintain  the  spirit  of  service, 


loo  THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK. 

which  is — "  I  am  not  my  own  ;  I  am  bought 
with  a  price."  Pray  for  grace  to  serve  as 
Christ  did — "  Behold  My  servant  whom  I  up- 
hold''  (Is.  xlii.  i).  When  we  take  our  strength 
as  well  as  our  work  from  the  Lord's  hand, 
then  does  He  "delight"  in  us.  When  you 
have  any  success,  do  not  parade  it  or  your- 
self before  men.  Our  blessed  Lord,  after  a 
series  of  wonderful  and  most  popular  mira- 
cles in  Capernaum,  did  not  wait  "  to  enjo}' 
his  honors,"  or  "  rest  on  his  laurels,"  or  "  re- 
ceive congratulations  ;"  but  "  in  the  morning, 
rising  up  a  great  while  before  day,  he  went 
out  and  departed  into  a  solitary  place,  and 
there  prayed  "  (Mark  i.  35).  We  are  brought 
to  our  right  place  when  we  are  alone  with 
God,  and  we  get  strength  there  for  further 
service.  So,  dear  believer,  keep  from  cooling, 
by  activity  ;  from  freezing,  by  motion  ;  from 
rust,  by  labor.  The  brightest  needle  is  most 
easily  drawn  to  the  magnet ;  and  the  best 
Christian  worker  will  most  feel  the  love  of 
Christ.  "  The  time  is  short."  The  Lord  has 
chosen  )^ou  and  ordained  you  that  ye  should 
go  and  bring  forth  fruit,  and  that  your  fruit 


THE  QUESTION  EVERY  ONE  SHOULD  ASK.  loi 

should  remain "  (John  xv.  i6).  "  But  ye, 
brethren,  be  not  weary  in  well-doing"  (2 
Thess.  iii.  13). 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTA- 
MENT. 

ES,  surely,  I  must  have  been  sleep- 
ing !  There  is  no  other  way  of  ac- 
counting for  it.  How  could  a 
Greek  Testament  speak.?  Let  me 
seethe  time — I  came  up  at  half-past  seven.  It 
is  now  a  quarter  past  eight.  Three-quarters 
of  an  hour  gone,  and  nothing  done !  I  must 
have  gone  off  in  this  arm-chair — I  shall  send 
this  arm-chair  out  of  the  study  —  and  I  dare 
say  I  was  dreaming." 

So  I  had  to  say  to  myself.  The  way  of  it 
was  this.  I  had  given  a  good  part  of  the  day 
to  holiday  joys.  It  was  New  Year's  Day. 
The  courts  were  closed,  of  course,  for  the 
vacation,  and  my  children  obtained  the  fulfil- 
ment of  an  old  promise  that  I  should  have  a 
(102) 


STOR  V  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT.       103 

long  walk  with  them.  Why  should  they  not 
get  a  little  pleasure  with  their  father?  Their 
mother  had  often  said  she  would  like  to  in- 
troduce the  children  to  me.  So  I  tried  to  be 
at  home  with  them  ;  made  such  poor  jokes 
as  a  man  of  cares  is  able  to  make  for  boys ; 
laughed  heartily  at  theirs ;  allowed  them, 
even,  to  make  puns  on  the  wig  and  gown — ■ 
my  working  clothes ;  and,  on  the  whole,  must 
have  got  on  well,  for  when  we  came  back, 
Harry — a  young  rascal  without  veneration 
—  announced  to  his  mother  that  we  "had  a 
jolly  ramble,  and  a  lot  of  fun."  I  am  not  as 
young  as  I  was.  What  was  sport  to  them 
was  fatiguing  to  me,  and,  when  dinner  was 
over,  and  the  oranges  had  been  eaten — on  a 
plan  for  which  Harry  thinks  v/e  should  take 
out  a  patent,  namely,  cutting  a  circular  hole 
in  the  end  (not  the  side,  observe),  filling  it 
with  sugar,  and  drawing  the  juice  through 
the  sugar  ;  which  is  "  taken  with  clause 
of  renewal."  After  this  was  over,  I  recol- 
lected some  briefs  that  must  be  looked  over, 
and  went  to  the  study.  I  did  feel  tired, 
but  I  think   I   meant  to  do  some   work,   sat 


104      STOR  Y  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT. 

down  in  my  arm-chair,  and  must  have  gone 
to  sleep.  I  had  run  my  eye  over  a  Hne  of 
books  that  I  have  long  had  on  a  shelf  b}' 
themselves.  There  are  stories  in  my  mind 
connected  v/ith  many  of  them.  I  cannot  tell 
why,  but  an  old  Valpy's  Greek  Testament 
held  me  a  moment.  It  was  an  unattractive 
book,  that  had  been  knocked  about  in  the 
world  a  good  deal.  I  forget  what  more  I 
did,  how  I  sat  down  to  rest,  or  anything  else, 
until  I  heard  —  at  least,  I  seemed  to  hear,  but 
I  must  have  been  dreaming — a  slow,  but  dis- 
tinct voice  proceed  from  the  shelf  I  had  been 
contemplating,  and,  as  it  seemed  to  me — from 
the  Greek  Testament !  And  the  curious 
thing  is  that,  ridiculous  as  it  seems  to  me, 
now  that  I  recall  it  —  it  did  not  then  appear 
the  least  ridiculous  that  a  Greek  Testament 
should  talk,  and  talk  English  too.  I  listened, 
and  with  deep  interest — at  least,  I  thought  so, 
for,  of  course,  I  must  have  been  dreaming. 
My  profession  as  a  lawyer  has  habituated  me 
to  follow  and  remember  long  and  compli- 
cated narratives,  and  I  am  quite  sure  that  I 
write  down,  not,  indeed,  the  words  always, 


STOHY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT.       105 

but  the  substance  of  what  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment said,  or  seemed  to  say,  for,  as  aforesaid 
mentioned  or  described,  I  must  have  been 
dreaming,  during  a  sleep  brought  on  proba- 
bly by  my  unwonted  exercise  in  the  open  air. 
The  talk  with  the  boys,  and  the  turning  of 
my  attention  to  the  book,  as  already  detailed, 
may  account  for  the  general  character  of  the 
communication,  or  meditation,  or  dream,  or 
whatever  it  was. 

In  a  slow  and  measured  voice,  and  with 
occasional  abruptness,  as  if  soliloquizing  ra- 
ther than  narrating,  the  old  book  began 

ITS  STORY. 

*'  New-Year's  Day  again  !  Ah,  me !  it  re- 
calls many  a  touching  scene  to  me.  How 
much  has  happened  since  I  left  m)'-  com- 
panions in  the  great  house  where  we  all  came 
into  being  and  \yent  down  with  a  number  of 
strange  books  I  had  never  met  before,  by  a 
coach,  to  a,  country  town  in  the  West!  The 
shopm.an  to  whom  I  went  said  I  '  had  been 
ordered,'  and  at  once  sent  me  alone  to  a  lady 


io6       STORY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT. 

in  the  neighborhood.  My  reception  by  her 
was  far  from  encouraging.  One  glance  inside 
—  and  several  frowns  at  my  cover  —  that  was 
the  only  welcome  I  had.  I  understood  it  all, 
however,  two  days  after,  when  the  lady,  sim- 
ply writing  on  my  fly-leaf,  '  Rev.  Richard 
Thompson,  with  the  gratitude  of  S.  M.,'  car- 
ried me  to  a  young  clergyman,  and  as  she 
handed  me  to  him,  apologized  for  my  plain 
dress,  saying  that  her  bookseller  had  misun- 
derstood her  order,  and  sent  me  instead  of 
one  in  better  binding.  My  new  owner  had  no 
feeling  on  the  subject.  He  valued  me  for  my 
own  sake.  I  had  an  honored  place  among 
the  books  that  always  lay  on  his  table.  He 
was  a  hard-worked  man.  Many  a  time  I 
have  seen  him  come  in,  worn  and  faint,  and, 
instead  of  rest,  he  has  had  to  write,  or  read, 
or  receive  persons  who  wished  to  see  him. 
Many  a  time  1  wondered  at  his  patience. 
People  came  to  him  about  everything — ser- 
vants who  wanted  places,  and  mistresses  who 
wanted  servants,  governesses  who  wanted 
situations,  and  mothers  who  wanted  govern- 
esses, and  who  would  tell  the  history,  faults, 


STORY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT.      107 
and  virtues  of  all  the  governesses  they  ever 
had,  and  require  all  the  virtues  of  a  saint  and 
all  the  learning  of  a  scholar,  and  all  the  ac- 
complishments of  a  lady,  for  the  salary  of  a 
cook.     Then  there  were  persons  with  griev- 
ances, with  complaints,  with  scandals.     Now 
and  again  my  owner  seemed  gladdened  by 
persons  who  came  to  ask  him  about  the  way 
to  heaven   and  their  own   souls'  state;   and 
then  he  would  brighten  and  talk  so  cheerfully 
to  persons  who  could  not  refrain  from  tears; 
and   he   would  kneel   down   and   pray   with 
them.     Sometimes -and  I  could  not  restram 
my  indignation-they  came,  even  well-dressed 
and   respectable-looking   people,  asking  him 
for  money— him  to  whom  I  knew  that  every 
shining  was  important -and  he  would  give 
it,  telling  his  gentle  wife,  with  a  sigh,  that 
they  had  asked  it,  and  must  be  in  need,  and 
he   could  not  turn   away.      'The   Lord  will 
give   us   enough  somehow,  dear,'  he  would 

say. 

- 1  was  very  happy  with  him.  No  other 
book  was  as  much  in  his  hand.  But  it  did 
not  last.      My  owner  became  ill,  and  had  to 


roS       STORY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT. 

keep  his  bed.  He  did  not  get  advice  for  a 
long  time,  and,  when  the  doctor  came,  he 
wrote  a  prescription  at  the  table  on  which  I 
lay ;  and,  as  he  wrote,  I  heard  him  say  to 
himself,  'Poor  fellow,  stamina  all  gone  —  this 
will  soothe  him,  at  least ;  but  his  days  are 
numbered.'  Soon  after,  I  was  brought  up  to 
his  bed,  and  lay  beside  his  pillow.  He  would 
try  to  read,  now  and  then,  as  he  could.  It 
was  soon  over.  I  remember  the  day  his  wife 
and  little  ones  came  to  see  him  die — the  cries 
of  the  children,  and  the  silent,  still,  sup- 
pressed sorrow  of  the  wife  —  the  words  of 
comfort  he  spoke  to  her — then  the  thin,  pale 
face  lying  back  on  the  pillow,  and  he  fell 
asleep. 

"  I  had  no  owner  nov/.  There  was  a  stir  in 
the  house  a  few  weeks  after,  and  an  auction- 
eer sold  all  my  companions  and  myself,  and, 
indeed,  nearly  all  the  things  in  the  house. 
The  widow  held  me  in  her  hand,  as  he  was 
making  out  the  list,  and  said  something  about 
keeping  me  —  but  at  length  put  me  down 
with  the  rest.  *  God  help  us  ! '  she  said,  '  we 
shall  need  it  all.' 


STORY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT.       109 

"  I  found  myself  in  strange  hands.  A  shop- 
keeper in  the  town  had  come  to  buy  some 
tables  from  the  minister's  house.  Hearing 
the  auctioneer  call  out  '  Greek  Testament, 
gentlemen  !  Cheap  for  a  school-book  ! '  he  re- 
collected that  his  son  had  begun  the  Greek 
grammar.  '  Valpy's  edition,  gentlemen  ! '  said 
the  auctioneer,  which  reminded  Mr.  Stone 
that  he  had  bought  a  Valpy's  Greek  gram- 
mar, and  suggested  to  him  that  there  must 
be  some  connection  between  them.  He  did 
not  doubt  that  William,  his  eldest  son,  would, 
some  time  or  other,  need  this  book  also,  and 
so  he  offered  a  price  for  me.  It  was  shame- 
fully small ;  but  nobody  else  in  the  town 
wanted  me,  and  so  Mr.  Stone  carried  me 
home,  pointing  out  to  several  of  his  neigh- 
bors that  he  had  got  a  book  for  his  son  Wil- 
liam that  had  not  a  word  of  English  from 
beginning  to  end.  He  really  believed  that 
William  either  could  or  soon  would  speak  '  all 
the  dead  languages'  fluently.  William,  who 
took  no  pains  to  correct  this  error,  showed 
no  particular  feeling  on  getting  me  into  his 
hands,  only  remarking  that  he  '  could  have  a 


no       STORY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT. 

cog  for  this,  in  spite  of  old  Ratan,'  which  his 
father,  not  understanding,  probably  thought 
a  quotation  from  the   dead  languages. 

"  I  had  little  enjoyment  in  my  new  posi- 
tion. To  be  crushed  in  a  leather  strap  along 
with  *  Gough's  Arithmetic '  and  a  very  old 
*  Caesar's  Commentaries ; '  to  be  used  now  and 
then  as  a  weapon  of  war,  and  flung  at  a  boy's 
head ;  to  be  covered  over  with  scrawls  from 
the  '  cog '  aforementioned — and  which  I  found 
to  be  an  English  Testament  —  to  help  Wil- 
liam's bad  memory,  till  the  Gospel  of  Mat- 
thew is  hardly  readable ;  all  this  was  not 
pleasant.  William  was  not  like  my  late  mas- 
ter in  anything.  He  went  to  school  because 
he  must.  He  dragged  through  the  class 
without  pleasure  to  himself  or  his  teacher. 
He  never  tried  to  learn  a  lesson  that  could  be 
avoided ;  and  he  did  not  tell  the  truth.  He 
occasionally  had  access  to  his  father's  shop, 
and  used  to  take  the  money  secretly,  and  lay 
it  out  on  luxuries  which  only  a  mere  child 
would  value.  He  never  mastered  the  dead 
languages,  nor,  indeed,  any  of  the  living. 
His    teacher  —  an    honest   and    conscientious 


STOEY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT.      iii 

man,  rather  blunt  in  his  way  —  did  not  wish 
to  be  troubled  with  him.  He  taught  all  that 
was  learned  by  the  better-class  boys  of  the 
town,  of  whom  eight  or  ten,  perhaps,  in 
whom,  or  in  their  parents,  there  was  a  little 
ambition,  would  be  put  to  '  the  languages.' 
They  formed  the  advanced  class  of  the  school, 
were  a  good  deal  looked  up  to  by  the  mere 
*  English '  boys,  and  their  success  gave  great 
satisfaction  as  well  as  great  dignity  to  the 
master,  and  a  great  impetus  to  learning  in 
the  place.  The  key  that  opened  the  door  to 
many  of  the  professions  was  a  very  small  key, 
and  they  got  it  from  'the  master.'  But  it 
did  not  suit  him  to  keep  boys  at  work  who 
would  plainly  come  to  nothing  ;  and  so  he 
told  Mr.  Stone,  in  a  good-natured  way,  that 
his  son  had  more  *  taste  for  commerce  than 
for  the  literary  pursuits,'  which  was  quite 
true ;  and  that  if  he  kept  him  at  the  classics 
any  longer  there  would  be  a  *  good  merchant 
spoiled.'  Mr.  Stone,  as  I  could  collect  from 
his  remarks,  was  in  great  uncertainty  for  the 
period  of  three  weeks  about  this  statement. 
Was  it  an  affront?  or  was  it  a  compliment.'* 


ri2       STORY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT. 

Mr.  Stone  decided  for  the  latter.  *  He  had 
no  notion  of  his  son  going  for  genteel  pover- 
ty, like  Mr.  Jennings  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bar- 
row, who,  though  college-bred  men,  he  knew 
could  hardly  pay  their  bills  in  his  shop.'  He 
concluded  that  a  higher  order  of  mind  was 
needed  in  his  business  than  in  theirs ;  and 
that  William's  true  place  was  in  business.  I 
was  thrown  aside,  William  and  I  parting  with 
mutual  satisfaction.  I  was  laid  on  a  shelf, 
and  cannot  tell  how  long  I  must  have  lain 
there.  William  grew  to  be  a  man,  succeeded 
his  father  in  the  business,  had  entire  control 
of  the  money,  laid  out  too  much  of  it  on  him- 
self, in  horses,  dress,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
drink ;  and  eventually  strange  men  came,  took 
possession  of  the  place,  which  William  left,  ap- 
parently in  great  grief,  and  I  saw  him  no  more. 

"  In  a  few  days  these  men  turned  every- 
thing upside  down,  and  sent  many  things  out 
of  the  house,  including  myself. 

"  When  I  began  to  look  about  me  in  my 
new  position,  I  found  myself  among  a  number 
of  quite  strange  books,  on  a  board  settled 
agains!   a  wall  in  the  open  air,      A  poorly- 


STORY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT.       113 

dressed  man  walked  to  and  fro  in  front  of  this 
board,  answering  the  questions  of  such  pass- 
ers-by as  stopped  to  look  at  his  books.  I  had 
a  dreary  time  here,  till  a  grave-looking  young 
man  one  day  asked  my  jailer — for  so  he  seem- 
ed to  me — had  he  a  Greek  Testament?  I  was 
produced,  bought,  and  paid  for — my  cost  hav- 
ing fallen  much  below  what  it  was  at  the  first, 
owing  in  part,  I  cannot  but  think,  to  William 
Stone's  use,  or  rather  abuse,  of  me.  My  new 
owner  was  a  minister,  who,  I  found,  had  been 
ordained  without  any  very  high  education.  I 
learned  this  from  hearing  him  one  day  tell  his 
friend  how  he  had  come  to  possess  me.  '  The 
fact  is,  my  dear  fellow,'  he  said,  '  none  of  us 
know  enough.  We  don't  prepare  our  ser- 
mons. We  don't  make  ourselves  sure  of  what 
the  Lord  says  in  the  texts  we  set  about  ex- 
plaining, and  so  we  make  poor,  uncertain 
preachers.  I  v/as  in  Cork  once,  Thomas  was 
with  me — you  know  Thomas?  We  saw  a 
meeting  advertised,  and  turned  in.  A  gentle- 
man was  speaking — a  Rev.  Mr.  Somebody — 
no  matter  what — but  a  good  creature  appar- 
ently.    He  was  deprecating  discussion  about 


ti^       STORY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT. 

religion,  and,  taking  out  his  pocket  Bible,  he 
read  as  a  proof-text  of  his  position,  "  Without 
controversy,  great  is  the  mystery  of  godli- 
ness." "  My  brethren,"  said  he,  "  these  words 
ought  to  be  written  in  letters  of  gold,"  and 
he  repeated  them  with  increased  emphasis. 
"  Would  we  know  the  greatness  of  the  mys- 
tery of  godliness,  let  it  be  without  contro- 
versy." Thomas  thrust  his  elbow  into  my 
side,  and  gave  me  one  of  his  queer  looks. 
"  That  fellow  must  have  lost  his  Greek  Testa- 
ment," said  he,  when  we  came  out,  "  or  he 
would  have  known  that  '  without  controver- 
sy' there  means  undeniably  or  confessedly." 
But  I,'  said  my  owner,  '  might  have  made 
the  same  mistake,  for  I  could  haxdly  make 
out  a  verse  in  Greek.  I  bought  books,'  said 
he  ;  'I  taught  myself,  and  now  I  never  preach 
on  a  New  Testament  text  without  satisfying 
myself  of  its  meaning  in  the  original.'  It  was 
a  renewal  of  my  old  happiness.  I  was  on  the 
study-table  again.  We  moved  from  place  to 
place.  My  owner,  I  saw,  was  poor.  He  did 
not  buy  many  books,  and  he  had  no  rich  peo- 
ple to  give  him  any.     Many  a  time  he  sighed 


STORY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT.       115 

as  he  came  upon  a  reference  to  such  a  book 
as  Bengel  or  Calvin,  thinking  how  much  more 
he  might  know  and  teach  if  he  could  get  these 
books  to  which  such  authors  as  he  had,  re- 
ferred !  But  he  did  not  murmur.  Many  a 
time  his  hand  rested  affectionately  on  me  as 
he  fell  on  his  knees,  while  preparing  his  ser- 
mons, and  prayed  for  skill  and  wisdom  in 
writing  and  preaching. 

"  He  had  not  much  strength  of  body,  and, 
when  he  got  fever,  his  mind  soon  began  to 
wander.  He  would  try  to  explain  texts  to 
the  nurse,  whom  a  kind-hearted  neighbor  sent 
to  attend  him,  and  tell  her  what  the  words 
were  in  Greek.  The  case  was  a  very  peculiar 
one.  Again  and  again  he  relapsed.  His  brain 
could  not  be  quieted.  The  gentleman  who 
sent  the  nurse  at  length  came  himself  to  see 
him.  The  poor  brain  was  still  upset.  '  Ah  !' 
he  said,  '  you  are  very  kind.  I  did  not  expect 
you  to  come.  You  are  a  law3^er — not  a  doc- 
tor. You  are  most  kind.  A  lawyer — it  is 
vojUKog — not  the  kind  of  lav/yer  you  are — you 
will  find  it  in  Matthew — tempted  Christ  with 
questions.      You   would  not   tempt  Christ — 


Ii6       STORY  OF  THE  CREEK  TESTAMENT. 

would  you?  Christ  who  Avanted  to  save 
them — they  tempted !'  and  he  launci'xed  out 
into  a  burst  of  feeling,  half  indignant,  half 
mournful,  till  they  had  to  beg  him  to  be  quiet 
till  the  morrow,  and  then  he  might  be  strong- 
er, to  finish  the  sermon,  on  which  he  plainly 
thought  himself  engaged.  The  tears  rolled 
down  the  cheeks  of  the  visitor,  without  his 
thinking  of  wiping  them  away.  He  came 
again  many  a  time  ;  he  was  there  at  the  last ; 
he  was  at  the  grave ;  he  settled  the  little  af- 
fairs of  the  widow ;  he  took  her  eldest  boy 
into  his  office,  and  gave  him  a  salary  from  the 
beginning.  He  was  in  the  study  one  day 
looking  over  some  papers  about  a  small  Life 
Insurance,  and  the  widow  told  him  all  her  sit- 
uation, and,  in  broken  sentences,  expressed 
her  thankfulness  for  his  kindness.  His  eye 
fell  on  me,  and  he  took  me  in  his  hand.  There 
was  some  talk  about  the  love  he  had  for  me, 
and  the  end  was  that  the  lawyer  accepted  of 
me  as  a  memorial  of  my  late  owner,  perhaps 
more  than  anything  else  to  gratify  the  heart 
of  the  grateful  mourner.  So  here  I  am  now, 
in  a  handsomer  and  finer  library  than  I  was 


STORY  OF  THE  GREEK  TESTAMENT.       117 

ever  in  before,  but  I  am  useless !  My  present 
owner  never  looks  on  my  pages,  never  thinks 
of  the  question  that  made  him  weep — *  You 
would  not  tempt  Christ — would  you?'  "^ • 

Here  the  story  ended,  or  seemed  to  me  to 
end  ;  I  must  have  awoke  just  at  this  point.  I 
became  agitated.  It  recalled  the  death  of  a 
true,  simple,  Christian  man.  I  never  could 
bear  to  see  death-beds.  It  always  agitated 
me.  I  cannot  bear  to  see  so  much  distress. 
Yes ;  I  certainly  was  sleeping  and  dreaming. 
Curious  that  I  should  dream  all  this.  Tempt 
Christ?  Well,  I  do 'not  know.  These  briefs 
— my  children — my  position — I  fear,  keep  me 
from  thinking  as  much  about  Him  as  I  should. 
Strange  that  this  should  happen  on  a  New- 
Year's  Day.  I  could  read  Greek  very  well 
once.  I  knew  the  Greek  Testament  when  at 
college.  I  remember  our  professor  kindling 
mto  enthusiasm — "  These  are  the  words  Paul 
wrote,  gentlemen.  This  is  his  very  formula — ■ 
WiOTZVoov  em  rov  Kvpiov  'Irjaovv  Xpiarov.^''  God 
helping  me,  I  shall  think  more  of  this.    I  shall 

not  tempt  Christ.  I  shall  believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus. 


FAMILY    RELIGION 


44 


"r&-'ivO'*i">^ 


^OTHERS"  the  first  Napoleon 
pronounced  to  be  the  want  of 
France.  The  Abb^  Hyacinthe 
told  the  gathered  crowds  in  Notre 
Dame,  that  families  and  family-life  distinguish 
English  and  German  from  French  society. 
Without  family  purity  and  family  religion 
there  can  be  no  prosperous  congregation, 
Church  or  community.  Let  there  be  a  low 
state  of  feeling  in  families,  and  the  central 
portion  of  every  society  is  in  an  unsafe  state, 
for  the  congregation,  the  Church,  and  the 
State  are  concentric  circles  of  which  the  fam- 
ily is  the  centre  ;  or  rather  they  are  an  exten- 
sion for  separate  purposes,  of  the  family. 
Family  religion  does  not  consist  in  worship 

(ii8) 


FA  MIL  V  RELIGION.  1 19 

twice  daily  ;  nor  in  the  occupation  of  a  pew 
in  church ;  nor  in  sending  the  children  to  a 
Sunday-school ;  nor  in  receiving  the  visits  of 
a  minister.  One  or  all  of  these  things  may 
be,  and  yet  there  may  exist  no  religion  in  the 
family,  no  pervading  sense  of  God's  claims, 
no  sense  of  obligation  regulating  the  daily 
life  and  checking  all  selfish  feelings  and  pas- 
sions. "  Grace "  may  be  said  over  every 
meal,  and  yet  the  family  may  not  eat  their 
meat  with  gladness  or  to  the  glory  of  God. 
Religion  may  be  much  talked  of;  its  ministers 
may  be  respected,  and  its  literature  read ;  and 
yet  it  may  be  quite  unknown  in  its  life  and 
power. 

We  shall  mention  some  of  the  obstacles  that 
may  almost,  or  altogether,  make  family  reli- 
gion impossible. 

A  father  or  mother  can  make  it  impossible, 
by  being  intemperate,  or  profane,  or  ungovern- 
able in  temper.  How  can  lips  that  falter  and 
stammer  in  drunkenness  offer  prayer,  or  speak 
devotionally  ?  How  can  a  man  that  is  seen 
by  his  children  or  his  servants  "  drunk  and 
incapable,"    command   his   children   and    his 


1 20  FAMIL  Y  RELIGION. 

household  in  the  service  of  the  Lord  ?  How 
can  a  mother  guide  the  steps  of  her  children 
in  the  ways  of  piety  and  purity,  if  her  own 
are  seen  tottering  in  unwomanly  intoxication  ? 
Or  they  may  make  it  impossible  by  any 
gross  inconsistency.  Let  it  be  seen  that  what- 
ever shows  of  godliness  are  maintained,  the 
world  is  really  sought  and  honored  with  all 
the  heart  and  with  all  the  soul,  that  fashion  is 
more  powerful  than  the  fear  of  God,  that  even 
the  very  worship  itself  is  determined  by  con- 
siderations of  a  worldly  character,  and  their 
solid  and  sincere  piety  is  rendered  unlikely, 
if  not  impossible.  For  persons  of  whom  such 
things  are  true  to  pray  for  and  expect  family 
religion  is  to  expect  not  miracles  of  grace,  bi:t 
contradictions  of  God's  own  word.  It  is  to 
sow  one  thing  and  expect  to  reap  another. 
Children  and  servants  will  see  that  whatever 
may  be  thrown  up  on  the  surface  of  the  life 
for  ornament,  or  for  advantage,  the  substance 
and  main  texture  of  the  life  are  of  the  earth, 
earthy.  They  will  believe  in  what  the  life 
says,  and  disbelieve  the  lips. 
.    Strongly  marked  religious  differences  prevent 


FA  MIL  Y  RELIGION.  1 2 1 

family  religion.  Let  there  be  diversity  of 
conviction  as  to  the  object  of  worship — one 
portion  giving  it  to  the  Trinity  only,  another 
to  saints  and  angels  besides ;  or  let  there  be 
diversity  of  conviction  as  to  the  mode  of  wor- 
ship, one  portion  accepting  Jesus  only  as 
**  the  way  " — and  another  seeking  the  media- 
tion of  various  creatures  ;  and  family  religion 
is  impossible.  There  may  be  individual  re- 
ligion— the  very  trials  springing  out  of  such 
ill-assorted  unions  may  be  sanctified,  but  reli- 
gion, in  the  sense  of  a  common  love,  and 
trust,  and  hope,  binding  all  together  and  lift- 
ing all  upward  and  heavenward  together, 
there  cannot  be.  Divided  counsels,  views, 
and  interests  in  such  families  destroy  the  feel- 
ing of  oneness  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  all 
family  prosperity,  in  things  secular  or  things 
sacred. 

The  young  people  of  a  family  can  prevent 
family  religion.  Let  them  give  themselves  to 
the  excitements  and  pleasures  of  the  world, 
and  they  will  do  one  of  two  things;  either 
they  will  render  religious  exercises  in  the 
family  a  burden,  or  a  trial,  to  their  parents,  or 
6 


122  FAMILY  RELIGION. 

they  will  drag  their  parents  after  them.  I 
have  known  many  cases  in  which  parents 
have  in  their  later  life,  followed  their  chil- 
dren into  frivolities,  against  which  they  had 
protested  in  all  their  earlier  years  ;  and  as  re- 
spectable people  cannot  long  persist  in  doing 
what  they  will  not  defend,  they  come  to  justify 
what  they  formerly  deprecated.  How  can 
human  hearts,  through  which  the  passions 
have  had  "  free  course  "  in  the  theatre  or  the 
like  scenes  of  excitement,  expel  the  riotous 
throng  that  the  King  of  Glory  may  come  in, 
and  fellowship  with  Him  be  enjoyed  at  a 
family  altar  ?  In  fact,  a  course  of  ordinary 
worldly  enjoyment  usually  renders  family  wor- 
ship impossible.  Religion  is  felt  to  be  an  im- 
pertinence, and  its  exercises  an  intrusion  on 
the  realm  of  fashion.  To  be  thoroughly  at 
ease  in  such  a  life,  men  must  be  "  without 
God  in  the  world  ;"  and  it  is  a  sorry  enough 
spectacle  to  see  professing  Christians  throw 
off  restraints  to  which,  perhaps,  their  very 
prosperity  is  due,  that  they  may  gratify,  or 
advance  the  supposed  interests  of  their  chil- 
dren by  a  truce  with  the  devil,  and  a  pleasant 


FAMIL  Y  RELIGION.  123 

excursion  into  the  domain  which  they  pro- 
fess to  have  forsaken.  They  avoid  persecu- 
tion in  Vanity  Fair  by  the  purchases  they 
make,  and  the  attire  they  wear,  and  end  at 
times  by  leaving  it  in  doubt  whether  they  be- 
long to  God  or  to  Mammon. 

Even  servants  may  do  something  to  hinder 
family  religion,  especially  where  their  asso- 
ciation with  the  family  is  close,  as  in  the 
pleasant  farm-houses  of  the  land.  I  have  heard 
it  said,  and  I  believe  it  to  be  true,  that  in 
Ulster,  family  worship  was  dropped  in  the 
families  of  many  small  farmers  through  the 
presence  of  Roman  Catholic  servants,  who,  as 
is  well  known,  necessarily  live  as  members  of 
the  family,  and  who  made  it  disagreeable. 
The  good  man  "takes  the  book,"  and  the 
servant  rises  and  "  slams  the  door,"  in  leav- 
ing. Well,  it  is  a  small  thing,  and  a  little 
Christian  firmness  and  good  sense  would  get 
over  it ;  but  alas  !  one  does  not  always  find 
these  qualities,  and  so  the  exercise  is  tacitly 
abandoned,  rather  than  have  any  unpleasant- 
ness. 

Even  where  there  is  no  such  extreme  case 


124  FAMILY  RELIGION. 

as  this,  a  Protestant  servant,  who  is  plainly- 
dishonest,  or  intemperate,  or  ill-conditioned, 
playing-  at  cross-purposes  with  a  fellow-serv- 
ant or  with  her  mistress,  may  so  disturb  the 
harmony  and  general  quiet  of  a  family  as  to 
render  the  exercises  of  family  religion  differ- 
ent from  what  they  would  be  where  all  hearts 
are  felt  to  be  in  unison.  It  is  a  great  blessing 
to  have  servants  who,  at  least,  respect  reli- 
gion. Would  that  one  could  carry  out  the 
resolve  of  him  who  said — "  Mine  eyes  shall  be 
upon  the  faithful  of  the  land,  that  they  may 
dwell  with  me ;  he  that  walketh  in  a  perfect 
way,  he  shall  serve  me." 

Too  much  society  even  of  an  unobjectionable 
kind  hinders  family  piety.  It  does  not  com- 
monly thrive  in  "  an  open  house."  It  requires 
a  little  domestic  privacy.  It  is  extremely  hard 
to  keep  children  under  proper  restraints  when 
your  friends  are  always  with  you.  The  little 
students  of  human  nature  soon  find  out  when 
they  can  take  liberties.  The  religious  instruc- 
tion of  children  is  too  apt  to  be  suspended  at 
such  times,  fathers  and  mothers  "  have  so 
much  to  do."     The  natural  wish  then  is  to 


FAMILY  RELIGION.  125 

have  everything-  agreeable,  rather  than  exact- 
ly right.  The  rod,  which  the  highest  author- 
ity sanctions,  is  rarely  used  when  there  are 
"  visitors  in  the  house." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  irreligious  visitors 
are  a  great  hindrance.  He  who  would  guard 
his  home  to  the  utmost  will  say — "  I  will  not 
know  a  wicked  person."  (Ps.  ci.  4.)  Parents 
profess  great  respect  for  the  good,  great  aver- 
sion to  the  wicked  ;  and  their  children  see 
them  at  the  same  time  obsequiously  and  def- 
erentially court  the  society  of  Sabbath-break- 
ers, profane  scoffers,  perhaps  shameful  sinners. 
The  thing  must  strike  them  as  equally  mean 
and  insincere.  I  say  nothing  of  the  direct 
evil  influence  such  persons  bring  into  a  fami- 
ly, by  the  restraint  they  impose  on  religious 
conversation,  by  the  example  they  set,  by  the 
seeds  of  evil  principles  they  sow.  It  is  right 
to  be  hospitable.  It  is  also  your  right  to 
choose  your  guests :  and  the  rule  of  the  same 
psalm  is  a  safe  one — "  He  that  worketh  de- 
ceit shall  not  dwell  within  my  house  ;  he  that 
telleth  lies  shall  not  tarry  in  my  sight." 

There  are  other  obstructions  to  family  piety 


126  FA  MIL  V  RELIGION. 

SO  obvious  that  they  need  hardly  be  specified. 
Such  is  a  business  that  is  bad  in  its  nature  or 
tendency.  "  My  father  is  engaged  in  his  own 
business,"  said  a  young  person.  "  What  is 
it?"  I  asked,  for  I  had  only  seen  him  hanging 
about  the  doors  in  questionable  company. 
"  The  turf,"  was  the  reply ;  and  one  would  be 
surprised  if  family  piety  flourished  under  his 
auspices.  Storekeeping  on  Sabbaths  and  en- 
tertainments on  that  day  come  under  the 
same  general  head.  "  A  Sabbath  well  spent" 
braces  the  mind,  steadies  the  whole  nature, 
recalls  great  truths,  fixes  good  principles.  A 
Sabbath  ill-spent  wearies  and  unhinges  the 
mind,  weakens  resolutions,  sets  us  at  war  with 
right  principles,  and  launches  us  into  the  so- 
ciety of  those  who  have  already  discarded 
them.  We  have  not  enumerated  all  the  ob- 
stacles in  the  way  of  religion  at  home,  but  we 
have  mentioned  a  number  large  enough  to 
awaken  reflection.  How  many  things  are 
against  it !  It  is  all  important — more  valuable 
— even  if  there  were  no  eternity  and  we  only 
thought  of  present  enjoyment — than  equipage, 
or  splendid  residence,  or  costly  attendance  ; 


FAMIL  Y  RELIGION.  127 

and  yet  how  many  conditions  are  unfavorable 
to  its  growth.  Even  if  one  member  of  a  fami- 
ly say  sincerely — "  I  will  walk  within  my 
house  with  a  perfect  heart,"  how  many  things 
may  make  the  resolve  difficult  of  execution ! 

If  any  of  our  readers  have  not  yet  made  the 
choice  of  a  partner  of  the  future  home,  here  is 
a  consideration  to  be  kept  in  mind.  Is  there 
reasonable  hope  that  she  of  whom  you  think 
as  wife  will  help  you  in  godliness,  and  strength- 
en your  hands  ;  or  is  she  a  "  fair  Philistine," 
without  any  sympathy  with  the  Lord's  peo- 
ple ?  Does  he  who  offers  you  his  hand  seem 
to  have  given  his  heart  to  Christ  ?  Will  his 
manly  strength  help  you  upward,  or  drag  you 
downward  ? 

Parents  !  are  you  blameless  in  your  life  at 
home  ?  Can  you  speak  to  your  children  with  a 
good  conscience,  and  an  unblushing  face  ?  Are 
your  pursuits,  pleasures,  friends,  the  books 
you  introduce  among  your  children  and  the 
employments  you  select  for  them,  conducive 
to  piety  at  home  ? 

Your  dwelling  ought  to  be  to  you  and 
yours    the    brightest   and   happiest   spot   on 


1 28  FAMIL  Y  RELIGION. 

earth.  To  it  you  and  yours  should  ever  turn, 
conhdent  that  "  whatever  brawls  disturb  the 
street,"  you  shall  find  there  harmony  and  re- 
pose. Gentleness,  mutual  trustfulness,  and 
unbroken  sympathy  should  render  it  to  you 
and  yours  a  type  of  heaven.  "  Father  "  should 
be  associated  with  such  thoughts  as  would 
naturally  rise  up  to  "  Our  Father  in  heaven." 
"  Brother "  should  suggest  the  tenderness, 
strength,  and  love  of  the  "elder  brother,"  and 
the  dwelling  should  be  fragrant  with  that  love 
which  circulates  for  ever  through  the  eternal 
home.  How  can  this  be,  among  all  the  strifes 
and  sins  of  the  world,  if  God  be  not  in  the 
dwelling,  the  fear  of  Him  in  each  heart,  and 
the  sense  of  His  gracious  presence  softening, 
subduing,  and  harmonizing  the  whole  into 
one  "  body  fitly  joined  together  and  compact- 
ed "  like  the  Church  of  Christ,  unto  the  edify- 
ing of  itself  in  love  ? 


THE    POISONED    CUP, 

A   STORY. 


From  the  Journal  of  Jane  Mcldon. 


EBRUARY  6th. — In  many  respects  a 
blessed  Sabbath.  Comfort  in  read- 
ing the  Word,  and  in  prayer.  Our 
minister  from  home,  and  his  pulpit 
supplied  by  a  young-  man,  who  preached  from 
Ezekiel  i.  26.  He  is  very  clever,  but — ^yet  I 
must  try  to  profit  rather  than  censure.  Still, 
the  preaching  that  does  me  good  must  have 
more  of  my  Redeemer  in  it. 

13th. — Mr.  Johnson  again  preached  for  us, 
and  returned  with  my  father  to  dinner.  His 
sermon  was  a  great  deal  better  than  the  last. 
My  father  approves  of  him  very  much,  and 
says  he  is  sensible  and  companionable.  But 
have  I  improved  the  day  ?  I  must  give  ac- 
6*  (1^9) 


I30  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

count  of  it.  Ever  since  I  began  this  journal 
— from  seeing  how  Henry  Martyn  and  David 
Brainerd  were  helped  by  it — I  have  noted 
my  Sabbath  impressions.  I  fear  I  make  little 
progress. 

14th. — This  day  we  drove  out  to  show  Mr. 
Johnson  the  places  about.  He  is  very  clever 
and  very  intelligent.  I  did  him  injustice  in 
thinking  him  without  spirituality.  How  hasty 
I  am  in  judging !  The  day  was  a  pleasant 
one — Mr.  Johnson  very  kind  to  me. 

June  1 8th.  —  Nothing  to  record  but  that 
Mr.  Johnson,  having  supplied  in  the  meeting- 
house of  Dunmore  yesterday,  rode  over  to 
our  house  this  day.  My  father  has  invited 
him  to  stay  for  the  Bible  Society  meeting  to- 
morrow. Read  some  of  Edwards.  Have 
much  to  learn. 

19th. — At  the  Bible  Societ}^,  the  deputation, 
Mr.  Henry  and  Mr.  Gracey,  told  us  the  value 
of  the  Scriptures,  which  we  know  ;  and  al- 
most nothing  of  the  Society,  which  we  do 
not  know.  But  they  are  good  men.  Mr. 
Johnson  rather  severe  upon  them — he  knows 
so  much. 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  131 

20th. — Talking  with  my  father  about  the 
new  Society  for  Temperance.  He  has  a  bad 
opinion  of  it.  Mr.  Johnson  agrees  with  him, 
and  says — 

"  Religion  never  was  designed 
To  make  our  pleasures  less." 

He  has  certainly  the  best  of  the  argument 
against  me,  but  I  am  a  poor  reasoner.  May  1 
be  guided  from  heaven  !  My  father  says  he 
cannot  bear  sheepish  men,  who  will  not  be 
sociable. 

September  2. — This  has  been  an  exciting 
day,  Mr.  Johnson  having  come  and  met  at 
our  house  our  neighbor,  Mr.  Finlay,  who  has 
been  lately  licensed.  I  cannot  but  hope  that 
my  old  school-fellow  will  be  a  good  minister 
of  Jesus  Christ.  My  mother  says  his  ser- 
mons have  the  savor  of  the  "  Fourfold  State  " 
about  them.  Argument  again  about  temper- 
ance. Mr.  Johnson  certainly  made  it  out  very 
absurd.  Read  more  of  Edwards.  Oh  '  that 
/  may  be  saved  from  all  self-deception !  "  Sin- 
ners in  Zion  "  may  well  be  afraid. 

loth.  —  My   sister   has   returned   from    her 


132  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

long  visit.  I  am  so  glad.  I  can  speak  to  her 
freely.  How  many  are  my  blessings  !  May 
I  be  grateful ! 

October  24th. —  Our  communion.  A  de 
lightful  day.  The  tables  very  full,  and  a  sol  . 
emn,  holy  stillness  in  the  house.  As  I  sat  be- 
side my  sister  and  father,  with  my  mother 
beyond,  I  prayed  that  we  might  all  be  to- 
gether in  heaven.  God  grant  it.  Greatly 
solemnized,  as  our  minister  spoke  of  going 
into  the  unknown  future,  with  its  heart  trou- 
bles, and  temptations,  and  griefs.  Oh !  my 
God,  I  have  been  happy  ever  since  I  was 
born,  for  Thou  wast  good  to  me  even  when  I 
knew  Thee  not,  and  now  keep  me  always 
through  good  and  ill.  The  singing  of  the 
23d  Psalm  after  the  last  table  brought  tears 
to  many  eyes.  Oh !  that  all  with  whom  we 
ate  and  drank  in  God's  house  to-day  may  sit 
down  in  the  kingdom  above  ! 

As  we  walked  home,  the  brown  leaves  fell 
on  us,  and  their  rustling  was  the  only  sound 
in  the  sober  quiet  of  the  grey  autumn  after- 
noon. It  was  a  fitting  day  for  so  solemn  a 
service. 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  133 

25th. — Our  communion  Monday.  Mr.  John- 
son preached,  and  he  and  Mr.  Finlay  came 
home  with  us.  Sorry  they  do  not  agree,  for 
I  hke  my  old  school-fellow's  thoughts  and 
ways ;  but  Mr.  Johnson  is  so  clever,  and 
knows  so  much.  He  talks  to  me  a  great  deal, 
but  I  cannot  talk  to  him.  I  appear  to  know 
almost  nothing. 

28th.  —  Oh!  what  a  poor  creature  I  am! 
Sadly  wicked  this  evening — my  sister's  foolish 
jesting  about  Mr.  Johnson  led  me  into  such 
folly.  God  forgive  me,  and  give  me  grace  to 
rule  my  own  spirit. 

Christmas  Day. — I  know  not  what  to  write. 
My  father  has  been  so  pleased  with  Mr.  John- 
son, that  he  spends  the  Christmas  here.  I  do 
not  know  what  to  write — or  think.  Am  I  fit 
to  be  a  minister's  wife  ?  He  says  I  need  not 
fear,  that  I  can  learn  anything,  and  that  I  can 
help  him.  He  has  been  wonderfully  kind  to 
me.  And  I  am  so  much  inferior  to  him.  I 
hope  I  am  not  wrong,  that  my  father  is  not 
wrong. 

1827  :  January  4th. — So  here  I  am  in  a  new 
year,  and  for  many  days  my  poor  journal  has 


134  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

been  sorely  neglected.  Xo  vronder,  perhapa 
I  have  been  engaged  always.  And  now  it  is 
all  settled,  yet  I  tremble  to  think  of  it — I  am 
so  weak  and  stupid.  I  have  been  reading  of 
the  wife  of  Jonathan  Edwards.  I  should  need 
to  be  made  again  to  be  like  her.  But  I  must 
try  and  seek  for  help  from  God. 

February  6th. — A  year  to-day  since  I  saw 
Henry,  when  he  came  to  preach  for  us.  I 
did  not  like  him  much  then — I  know  him 
now.  Oh  I  that  he  may  have  the  honor  of  win- 
ning souls  for  Christ,  and  that  I  may  help  him. 

8th. — A  long  pleasant  letter  from  Henry. 
Yet  I  feel  a  little  downcast.  It  is  painful  to 
part  with  any  one  we  have  long  known.  Mr. 
Finlay  called  to  say  good-bye.  He  goes  to 
America  in  a  few  days.  He  has  made  up  his 
mind,  it  seems,  quite  suddenly.  He  seemed 
in  low  spirits.  I  am  sure  he  will  try  to  do 
his  best  anywhere,  and  I  hope  the  Lord  will 
guide  and  bless  him. 

Letter  from  Eliza  JMeldon. 

2tth  December,  1S27. 

My  DEARE5T  AuxT, — I  am  not  writins:  to 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  135 

you  to  wish  you  happy  Christmas,  or  merry 
New  Year,  or  any  common  trash  of  that  kind, 
though  you  know  I  wish  you  all  that  is  good. 
No,  aunt — I  have  news  to  tell  you.  I  have 
been  expecting  it  ever  since  I  came  home  in 
September,  and  been  bursting  to  tell  you  ; 
but  you  forbid  prophecy,  and  only  value  his- 
tory, and  so  I  had  to  keep  my  secret.  Out 
with  it  now,  then  !  The  fact  is,  Jane  is  going 
to  join  the  Synod — nothing  less  or  more.  The 
way  of  it  is  this  :  Mr.  Johnson  came  here  to 
preach,  last  spring  some  time,  for  our  minis- 
ter, and  my  father  invited  him,  in  the  minis- 
ter's absence,  to  our  house.  A  "  sense  of 
duty  "  seems  to  have  brought  him  to  our  quar- 
ter pretty  often  since  then.  Bible  Society 
meetings.  Missionary  meetings,  and  all  good 
occasions  have  been  favored  with  his  pres- 
ence. Jane  does  not  seem  to  have  thought 
much  of  him  at  first,  when  her  eyes  were  all 
right.  But  now  they  only  see  the  cardinal 
virtues,  all  the  talents,  and  all  the  graces  in 
his  precious  person.  Don't  think,  dearest 
aunt,  that  I  am  jealous  now,  because  Jane  is 
the  Rachel  of  the  famil}^  and  I  am  left  be- 


136  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

hind.    I  am  trying  to  give  you  a  dispassionate 
view  of  the  case, 

I  saw  immediately  on  my  return  something 
was  the  matter.  Jane  had  got  a  lot  of  new 
books,  of  which  I  could  learn  no  history,  but 
that  Mr.  Johnson  had  been  speaking  about 
them.  She  had  some  new  notions,  too.  I 
observed  that  she  had  taken  to  gardening,  to 
admiring  sunsets,  and  to  collecting  ferns, 
which  I  shall  henceforth  count  as  a  decidedly 
bad  symptom  in  man  or  woman.  All  this 
time  Mr.  Johnson's  "  sense  of  duty  " — that  is 
the  word,  aunt — brought  him  now  and  then 
to  our  house,  and  my  hospitable  father  likes 
him  much.  He  talked  politics  and  all  the 
rest  to  him,  poetry  and  what  not  in  great 
abundance  to  Jane,  and  prose  to  me  in  small 
portions.  On  the  Temperance  question,  papa 
and  he  are  one,  equally  "  enlightened,"  and 
equally  despising  the  new  notions.  Well,  as 
a  prudent  elder  sister,  I  made  some  allusions 
to  the  attentions  Jane  was  receiving,  when 
she  became  so  awfully  serious,  ending  in  a 
good  cry,  that  I  saw  the  case  was  liopeless. 
In  fact,  she  was  rude  to  me,  but  I  "  made  al- 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  137 

iowance" — very  good,  wasn't  it,  in  poor  Leah 
to  do  so  ?  And  then  this  Christmas  came, 
and  either  hospitable  papa  invited,  or  the 
genl.lemau  invited  himself — I  can't  tell  which  ; 
and  we  have  had  what  I  call  "family  solemn- 
ities," and  the  requisite  explanations  have 
been  made,  and  Jane  Meldon  is  to  become 
Mrs.  Johnson  in  suitable  season,  as  our  own 
minister  says. 

Now,  dearest  aunt,  you  will  want  to  know 
what  we  all  think  about  it.  Papa  is  heartily 
pleased.  Poor  mother  hopes  for  a  blessing 
on  it,  but  is  not  very  talkative  on  the  subject. 
I,  of  course,  ought  to  be  very  fond  of  my 
brother-in-law  that  is  to  be,  and  I  think  I 
shall  become  so.  He  is  ready,  versatile,  and 
very  intelligent.  He  has  the  power  of  inter- 
esting all  kinds  of  people,  and  is  very  amiable 
and  genial.  If  I  were  as  religious  as  dear 
Jane  is,  perhaps  I  could  feel  the  force  of  the 
wonderful  eloquence  his  sermons  have  to  her, 
and  which  she  kiiozvs  will  make  him  very 
great  yet.  If  you  feel  as  the  rest  of  us  do, 
Jane  Avill  have  the  sincere  and  hopeful  good 
wishes  of  all  she  loves  best  on  her  marnage, 


133  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

which  \  think  will  come  off  in  spring,  if  Mr. 
Johnson  can  get  a  farm  in  the  neighborhood 
of  his  people,  as  he  expects  to  do.  There  is 
great  difficulty,  I  understand,  in  this. 

Everything  has  two  sides,  aunt.  You  will 
remember  Mr.  Finlay,  whom  you  saw  at  our 
house,  when  poor  Alick  was  alive.  My 
mother  had  a  great  opinion  of  him.  She  pre- 
dicted long  ago  that  he  would  not  only  be  a 
minister,  but  might  even  be  a  professor.  Sure 
enough,  he  made  his  way  through  college  in 
Glasgow,  and  is  now  licensed.  He  used  to 
come  often  to  our  house.  Mother  thinks 
him  fifteen  degrees  "  sounder  than  most  of 
them."  He  must  think  a  deal,  for  he  does 
not  speak  much.  He  had  a  way  of  looking 
at  Jane  as  if  she  was  a  picture,  and  I  am 
afraid  —  but  you  dislike  surmisings.  Well, 
Mr.  Finlay  has  formed  the  notion  of  going  to 
America,  but  does  not  yet  speak  of  it.  I  am 
afraid  Mr.  Johnson's  proceedings  have  some- 
thing to  do  with  it.  He  is  reserved  and 
proud  in  his  way,  but  very  good.  Now, 
dearest  aunt,  I  have  told  you  all  the  news  of 
our  small  world  ;  and  sincerely  hoping  that 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  139 

3'ou  will  see  many  a  Christmas  and  many  a 
NeA^  year,  I  am,  with  all  our  loves,  your 
affectionate  niece, 

Eliza  Meldon. 

The  Story  continued frovi  Mrs.  J!s  Journal. 

1827:  March  28th. — This  day  week  I  came 
to  my  new  home,  and  there  has  hardly  been 
time  to  write  a  line  in  my  neglected  journal 
since.  Indeed,  since  the  year  began  it  has 
had  little  attention.  Yet  how  much  I  need 
every  help  I  can  get  to  keep  me  in  the  right 
way.  Oh  !  that  this  happiness  and  excitement 
and  constant  stir  may  not  be  a  snare  to  me ! 
My  husband  is  so  engaged  that  I  get  little 
time  to  talk  to  him,  but,  please  God,  it  will 
not  be  so  by  and  by.  The  people  came  to- 
day and  ploughed  his  field — they  are  very 
kind.  Felt  how  stiff  and  awkward  I  was  in 
trying  to  be  kind  to  them  in  our  house.  My 
husband  must  have  a  farm,  it  seems.  Could 
we  do  without  it  ? 

April  3d. — My  second  Sabbath  in  our  own 
place  of  worship.  Last  Sabbath  all  was  so 
new,  and  I  felt  so  much  that  all  were  noticing 


140  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

poor  me,  that  I  had  little  real  worshipping. 
To-day  I  was  joyful  in  the  house  of  prayer. 
Oh !  God,  help  my  husband  in  his  ministry. 
Save  him  from  the  distractions  of  life,  .and 
help  him  to  give  himself  wholly  to  his  work ! 

May  loth. — Our  communion.  Day  fine,  and 
the  house  full.  Mr.  Henry  and  Mr.  Simpson 
assisted  my  husband.  Five  tables,  and  the 
service  not  over  till  five  o'clock.  What  a  pity 
that  it  could  not  be  shorter,  and  so  the  people 
could  stay  in  all  the  time.  My  husband  says 
it  is  the  custom  here.  But  could  it  not  be 
altered  ? 

May  nth. — Our  communion  Monday.  Af- 
ter the  service,  the  ministers  and  our  elders 
dined  with  us  and  spent  the  evening.  Much 
talk  about  other  ministers,  about  the  Synod's 
affairs,  and  other  things.  They  stayed  late. 
My  husband  says  it  is  the  custom  to  spend 
the  evening  in  this  way.  Oh !  how  much 
wisdom  we  need  to  keep  us  from  all  evil,  and 
to  make  us  good  and  holy  without  being  fault- 
finding or  disagreeable.  The  Lord  give  us 
His  own  grace. 

June  28th. — At  the  Synod  in  Strabane  with 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  i\\. 

my  husband.  Heard  a  good  sermon  from  Dr. 
Wright.  Mr.  James  Seaton  Reid  is  the  Mod- 
erator now.  He  is  a  learned  and  good  man. 
There  appears  to  be  a  great  division  among 
the  ministers.  My  husband  says  the  angry 
feehng  is  caused  by  the  Arians  keeping  one 
of  themselves  as  Clerk  after  his  professing 
Arianism.  I  hoped  to  have  enjoyed  the  Syn- 
od, but  it  is  very  sad  and  painful.  There  is  a 
very  venerable  minister,  Mr.  Elder,  who  has 
spoken  kindly  to  me. 

July  2d. — This  terrible  strife  about  the  Ari- 
ans continues.  It  sometimes  goes  with  them, 
and  sometimes  against  them.  It  was  attempt- 
ed to-day  to  put  Mr.  Cooke  off  the  committee 
for  managing  the  Mission  Society.  God  grant 
that  peace  may  be  brought.  There  can  be  no 
good  feeling  left  on  the  minds  of  the  people 
by  all  this  debating ;  and  yet,  what  can  be 
done  ?  They  must  defend  the  right  and  hold 
up  the  truth. 

Letter  from  Eliza  Aleldoii. 

June  17th,  1S27. 

My  Dearest  Aunt, — I  have  just  returned 


142  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

from  Grantly,  where  I  was  keeping  house  for 
my  sister,  while  she  put  in  an  appearance  at 
the  Synod  in  Strabane.  From  what  I  hear 
of  the  contentions  between  the  "New-light" 
and  "  Old-light,"  I  am  afraid  she  has  not  en- 
joyed it  much,  but  she  says  little  on  the  sub- 
ject. Dearest  aunt,  you  have  several  times 
asked  me  about  her,  and  I  have  not  been  able 
to  say  much  to  you  in  reply.  She  can  hardly 
be  said  to  be  settled  yet.  Mr.  Johnson  found 
it  necessary  to  have  a  farm,  not  only  to  have 
a  place  to  live  in,  but  because  his  means 
would  be  very  limited  without  it ;  so  she  will 
be,  in  many  respects,  a  farmer's  wife.  How 
he  is  to  manage  all  his  duties  and  his  farm, 
too,  I  cannot  yet  see.  His  evenings  are  often 
taken  up  with  ''  christenings"  and  weddings, 
besides  the  social  parties  to  which,  as  a  young 
couple,  they  are  invited ;  and  the  people  look 
for  a  deal  of  visiting,  and  expect  the  birds  of 
the  air  to  carry  tidings  to  the  minister  of  all 
losses,  crosses,  and  sickness  generally,  in  the 
parish.  Mr.  Johnson  is  a  great  favorite  among 
them.  He  is  pleasant  and  social.  Indeed,  I 
think  Jane  considers  him  too  much  so,  and 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  143 

often  wishes  the  new  Temperance  Societies 
were  set  up  among  the  people.  But  she  ap- 
pears very  fond  of  her  husband,  and  I  am 
sure  wishes  to  do  her  duty.  She  is  left  alone 
a  great  deal  during  his  absence  among  the 
people,  and  I  am  afraid  cannot  have  much 
society  in  the  neighborhood,  in  which  she 
would  feel  any  interest.  I  think  she  is  very 
happy  ;  still  /  am  not  discontented,  aunt,  with 
my  "spinster"  condition,  and  I  write  3^ou  all 
this  to  satisfy  your  affectionate  interest  in  dear 
Jane.  I  got  home  safely ;  and  with  all  our 
loves,  I  am  your  affectionate  niece, 

Eliza  Meldon. 

{TJie  Story  continued  from  Mrs.  J's  Journal^ 

July  loth. — My  husband  from  home  all  day. 
Oh !  how  I  wish  he  could  arrange  his  visiting 
on  some  other  plan.  Refreshments  every- 
where of  wine  or  spirits.  Why  must  minis- 
ters be  treated  this  way  ?  My  husband  says 
the  people  would  be  insulted  if  he  did  not 
partake  with  them.  The  Lord  give  him  grace 
and  wisdom. 

July  28th. — I  hardly  know  whether  or  not 


144  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

to  continue  this  journal.  Am  I  to  have  se- 
crets/r^w^  it,  or  am  I  to  put  down  all  I  think? 
Yesterday  was  a  sad  day  for  me.     Dinner  at 

Mr.  D 's,  and  several  ministers  there.     I 

never  expected  to  see  my  husband  so.  Oh ! 
this  horrid  social  custom.  My  heart  is  weigh- 
ed down  with  apprehension.  We  are  not  yet 
five  months  married,  and  this  sore  trouble  al- 
ready !  My  poor  husband  is  angry  with  him- 
self and  with  everything  to-day.  God  grant 
this  may  be  a  lesson  to  him. 

1st  January,  1829. — Another  year,  and  many 
a  blessing.  Oh !  how  good  God  is  to  me.  I 
have  everything  I  could  wish,  and  but  one 
care — how  many  others  have — and  the  Lord 
seems  to  have  given  us  help.  Since  July 
last  all  has  gone  well.  But,  oh,  how  I  wish 
there  were  no  drinking,  no  treating,  and  no 
such  hospitality.  On  looking  back  over  this 
journal,  what  a  hurried  life  we  seem  to  live. 
My  husband  has  never  yet  settled  to  his  prop- 
er work  as  a  minister.  Farming,  which  he 
says  is  quite  necessary,  going  to  markets,  ac- 
cepting invitations  and  the  like,  put  it  out  of 
his  power  to  study,  and  the  pulpit  preparation 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  145 

is  crowded  into  Saturday  evening.  Only  that 
he  is  so  ready,  what  would  he  do?  Oh,  I 
wish  we  could  get  settled  and  have  a  home — 
a  real,  quiet  home  1  My  journal  has  been 
often  interrupted  of  late. 

17th  April,  1829. — Let  me  use  my  pen  for 
the  first  time  since  I  have  been  ill,  to  write 
down  my  thankfulness  to  God.  Psalm  ciii. 
suits  me  and  my  darling  child — may  the  Lord 
make  him  His  own.  How  I  hope  we  shall 
have  more  quiet,  more  home-happiness.  The 
Lord  teach  us  how  to  order  this  child. 

Letter  from  Eliza  Meldon  to  her  Aunt. 

Grantly,  \1th  yiarch,  1 83 1. 

My  dearest  Aunt, —  I  am  writing,  you 
see,  from  my  sister's.  I  came  here  to  nurse 
her,  for  she  has  been,  you  will  be  sorry  to 
hear,  taken  suddenly  and  very  dangerously 
ill,  and  it  has  been  God's  will  to  take  her  in- 
fant. Thank  God  her  own  life  is  spared. 
The  doctor  says  she  must  have  had  some  sore 
trouble ;  and,  dear  aunt,  I  am  afraid  it  is  too 
true.  Henry  is  very  kind  and  affectionate, 
and  yet  there  is  some  sorrow  between  him 
7 


146  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

and  Jane,  so  that  when  he  is  away  she  is 
nervous  and  anxious  and  impatient  for  his 
return,  I  observed  this,  and  told  her  how 
unreasonable  she  was,  when  I  was  last  on  a 
visit  here.  I  have  been  questioning  Mary, 
who  is  a  faithful  and  sensible  servant,  and, 
dearest  aunt,  I  fear  I  know — though  I  can 
hardly  tell  you,  poor  Jane's  sorrow.  Mary 
tells  me  that  her  master  does  not  know  the 
management  of  a  farm,  and  that  his  income 
is  spent  before  it  is  paid  him  ;  that  he  does 
not  always  like  to  tell  Jane  how  it  is ;  that  he 
is  a  great  deal  among  the  farmers,  and  that 
every -where  he  is  expected  to  join  them  in 
drinking.  Mary  says  that  after  an  ordination 
dinner  in  Mosside  he  came  home  late,  and 
that  her  mistress  would  not  let  her  sit  up,  but 
waited  herself.  She  says,  in  the  middle  of 
the  night  she  heard  crying,  and  fearing  one 
of  the  children  might  be  ill,  she  got  up  and 
went  to  her  mistress's  room.  Jane,  she  says, 
was  walking  up  and  down,  crying  to  herself, 
"Am  I  a  drunkard's  wife — a  drunkard's  wife  !" 
And  Mary  hearing  this,  and  not  being  called, 
did  not  like  to  go  in.     She  is  an  affectionate 


TkE  POISONED  CUP.  147 

creature,  and  loves  her  mistress,  who,  she 
says,  never  raised  her  head  since.  Dearest 
aunt,  I  would  not  write  this  to  you,  for  I 
know  how  it  will  vex  you ;  but  you  might 
hear  other  accounts  that  would  make  you 
uneasy,  and  so  I  write.  Jane  is,  I  hope,  go- 
ing on  favorably,  but  she  has  been  so  feverish, 
and  the  doctor  says  she  must  be  kept  very 
quiet.  I  shall  not  close  this  till  to-morrow, 
and  put  in  a  line  then. 

1 8th. — A  sad  day,  dear  aunt.  The  fever 
got  worse  last  night.  The  doctor  ordered 
her  head  to  be  shaved,  and  all  her  beautiful 
hair  is  off.  Her  poor  mind  wanders  on  all 
kinds  of  subjects.  Just  now  she  is  muttering 
to  herself,  "  Why  need  they  have  ordination 
dinners?"  And  she  is  constantly  begging 
Henry  to  come  home  early.  I  fear  Mary's 
account  of  her  sore  sickness  is  the  true  one. 
.  Pray  for  us,  dearest  aunt.  I  have  often  been 
giddy  and  thoughtless,  but  I  feel  the  need 
of  the  Lord's  help  now. 

Your  fond  niece, 

E.  M. 


148  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

From  the  same. 

Aptil  20th,  1831. 

My  dearest  Aunt,— Our  poor  sufferer  iy 
gradually  creeping  back  from  the  grave's 
mouth.  The  doctor  said  she  "  turned  the 
corner"  on  the  twenty-first  day.  It  has  been 
a  terrible  time.  This  forenoon  she  sat  up  in 
the  bed,  and  oh !  if  you  had  seen  her  when 
she  looked  out  for  the  first  time  on  the 
green  fields,  and  the  trees  coming  into  leaf — 
such  a  sad,  sweet  smile  of  wonder  and  de- 
light !  She  must  be  cheered  up  and  get  a 
change,  but  I  am  sure  she  will  go  nowhere 
without  Henry,  I  mentioned,  dear  aunt,  in 
one  of  my  letters  about  the  ordination  din- 
ner you  may  recollect.  I  now  find  it  is  all 
true.  Poor  Henry,  it  appears,  made  a  clever 
speech,  which  everybody  praised  ;  and  as  the 
evening  went  on,  and  toasts  were  given,  he 
had  to  drink  a  great  deal,  and,  at  last,  it  ap- 
pears, he  lost  all  command  of  himself  I 
should  not  have  known  of  it,  but  it  appears 
the  Presbytery  had  to  sit  about  it,  and  they 
sent  Mr.  Kinross  to  speak  to  Henry.     Henry 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  149 

was  greatly  agitated ;  but  only  think,  dear 
aunt,  he  actually  ordered  in  spirits  and  glasses 
while  they  were  talking  about  the  affair. 
Poor  Jane  knows  nothing  of  this.  I  am 
afraid  Mary  knows  more  than  she  has  told 
me.  She  is  talking  of  going  away  to  Amer- 
ica. I  should  tell  you  it  was  from  her  I 
learned  Mr,  Kinross's  business  with  Henry. 
Mary  says  "  He  was  a  nice  man  to  come  on 
such  an  errand."  She  appeared  to  think  the 
Presbytery  would  do  something  else  in  the 
affair.  She  is  very  sorry  to  leave  my  sister, 
but  seems  bent  on  going.  Now,  dearest 
aunt,  I  have  told  you  all  I  know.  You  will 
pray  for  poor  Jane.  As  for  me,  I  trust  I  shall 
yet  be  a  Christian ;  but  I  am  a  poor,  silly, 
wayward  creature.  Pray  for  me,  dearest 
aunt.  Do  you  think  any  one  so  foolish  and 
wicked  as  I  am  could  be  the  Lord's  child? 
Your  fond,  but  miserable  niece,     E.  M. 

Story  continued. — From  the  Minutes  of  the 
Presbytery  of . 

Tuesday,  October  i8th. — On  which  day  the 
Presbytery  met: 


150  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

The  committee  appointed  to  inquire  regard- 
ing certain  charges  affecting  the  ministerial 
character  and  usefulness  of  the  Rev.  Henry 
Johnson,  of  Grantly,  reported  with  deep  re- 
gret that  there  appeared  to  be  too  good 
ground  for  proceeding  with  the  investigation 
of  this  painful  case  ;  that  a  brother  had  been 
deputed  to  remonstrate  with  Mr.  Johnson, 
without  any  apparent  result ;  that  repeated 
interviews  had  taken  place  between  this  com- 
mittee and  members  of  the  congregation  ;  that 
the  committee  has  been  furnished  with  evi- 
dence from  members  of  this  church  of  fre- 
quent and  public  intoxication ;  and  that  the 
persons  whose  names  are  annexed  are  able  to 
prove  the  same  if  summoned  by  Presbytery. 

On  the  receiving  of  this  report,  Mr.  John- 
son begged  leave  of  the  Presbytery  to  resign 
his  charge  of  the  congregation  of  Grantly,  in- 
timated his  intention  of  emigrating  to  America 
with  his  family,  and  expressed  a  hope  that  the 
Presbytery  would  furnish  him  with  creden- 
tials. 

Whereupon  it  was,  after  discussion. 

Resolved — "  That   the   resiirnation   of   Mr. 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  151 

Johnson  be  accepted;  that  the  congregation 
be  placed  under  the  charge  of  a  committee, 

consisting  of  Messrs. ;  Mr.  C,  convener, 

to  supply  the  people  with  ordinances  ;   and 

that  the  Moderator,  with  Mr.  and  Mr. 

,  be  a  committee  to   give  Mr.  Johnson 

such  a  letter  as,  in  the  absence  of  credentials, 
the  nature  of  the  case  will  admit." 

Letter  from  Mary  Porter  to  Miss  Meldon. 
Philadelphia,  ist  August,  1833. 

My  dear  Miss  Meldon — I  am  sure  you 
will  wonder  to  get  a  letter  from  me,  particu- 
larly as  I  did  not  stay  with  my  dear  mistress 
when  you  asked  me  to  stay.  It  would  have 
vexed  you  to  hear  why  I  could  not  stay.  The 
ministers  would  have  brought  me  to  prove 
against  master,  and  I  could  not  clear  him,  and 
it  would  break  my  heart  to  speak  against  him. 
So  I  made  up  my  mind  to  come  here,  and, 
thanks  be  to  God  for  all  His  mercies  to  me.  He 
led  me  in  a  right  way.  After  coming  here,  I 
was  engaged  in  New  York  by  Mr.  Hale :  you 
mind  his  uncle  living  in  Grantly ;  and  then  I 
came  to  Philadelphia,  and  hearing  of  a  fine 


152  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

preacher,  Dr.  Finlay,  I  went  to  hear  him,  when 
who  should  I  see  in  the  pulpit  but  Mr.  F.nla}-, 
that  went  to  Glasgow  College,  you  mind,  from 
beside  my  mistress's.  The  look  of  him  made 
me  think  of  all  at  home,  and  I  could  not  keep 
from  crying  all  the  time  he  was  preaching, 
and  I  could  not  help  going  to  speak  to  him. 
He  did  not  know  me,  but  when  I  told  him  I 
lived  with  the  mistress,  he  minded  all  about 
mc,  and  asked  me  a  deal  of  questions  ;  and,  to 
make  a  long  story  short,  as  he  was  coming  to 
live  here,  and  wanted  a  housekeeper,  after  a 
while,  he  engaged  me,  and  two  happier  years  I 
never  spent  than  in  his  house.  My  only  trouble, 
I  must  now  tell  you — but  I  hardly  know  how 
to  begin.  You  got  letters  from  my  mistress 
telling  you  her  sorrows  since  she  came  here ; 
but  I  am  afraid  she  did  not  tell  you  everything. 
She  never  would  believe  all  about  poor  mas- 
ter. She  used,  poor  dear,  to  call  him  on  her 
sick-bed,  '*  My  much  injured  husband."  When 
he  was  ill,  my  master — I  mean  my  master  now 
— attended  him  as  if  he  was  his  brother,  and 
the  same  with  poor  mistress.  They  wanted 
for  nothing,  which  will  be  a  comfort  for  you 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  I53 

to  know,  and  my  master  told  me  he  hoped  he 
found  mercy  at  the  last.     My  poor  mistress 
was  like  an  angel,  and  her  beautiful  face  was 
pale   and    thin,  but   nobody  ever   heard    her 
complain.     Only  once  she  said  to  me  it  was 
well  her  mother  was  in  heaven,  for  all  this 
would  break  her  heart.     She  used  to  cry  over 
her  children— darling  children— and  pray  that 
the  God  of  the  orphan  would  be  their  keeper. 
She  said    how  good  God  was  in  taking  her 
two  infants  before  her.      Nobody  could  get 
her  from  master's  bedside  as  long  as  he  lived  ; 
and  when  he  was  buried,  she  just  got  ready, 
she  said,  to  follow  him.     I  think  her  heart  was 
just  broke.     The  dear  little  orphans  are  here, 
and  the  master  is  as  fond  of  them  as  their  own 
could  be.     He  does  not  know  I  am  writing 
this  home,  but  poor  mistress  made  me  prom- 
ise to  write  to  you,  and  to  tell  you  all ;  but  I 
cannot  do  that.     She  thought  you  might  like 
to   know  about   her   children,  and   that   you 
would  tell  what  would  be  best  to  do  for  them. 
The  master,  I  am  sure,  would  not  give  them 
up  to  any  one  but  a  true  friend,  and  there  is 
no  one  we  could  send  them  home  with,  even 

r 


r54  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

if  you  were  going  to  take  them.  So  I  just  tell 
you.  I  am  but  a  poor  writer,  and  you  must 
excuse  all  mistakes.  Please  to  remember  me 
kindly  to  the  old  master  and  to  all  inquiring 
friends ;  and  I  remain,  dear  mistress — for  you 
were  the  same  as  my  own  mistress — yours  re- 
«jpectfully  till  death, 

Mary  Portep. 

The  Story  concluded  in  a  Letter  from 
Eliza  Meldon. 

Philadelphia,  United  Statks, 
Maixh,  1S34. 
My  dearest  Aunt — In  my  last  letter  I  de- 
scribed to  you  how  I  was  placed.  The  winter, 
of  course,  must  be  spent  here,  for  when  I  ar- 
rived in  the  fall  it  was  too  late  to  think  of  go- 
ing back  till  the  spring.  I  mentioned  to  you 
how  surprised  Dr.  Finlay  was  at  mj  going  out 
for  the  children,  and  how  much  he  §eemed 
afraid  of  its  being  thought  he  counted  them 
a  burden.  Nothing  could  be  warmer  than 
his  interest  in  you  and  all  our  faniily  ;  and 
nothing  could  be  nicer  or  nobler  than  his 
whole  conduct  in  this  affair.    The  moro  T  hea? 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  155 

of  all  that  happened  with  my  poor  sister,  the 
more  I  wonder  at  the  Lord's  goodness  to  her 
in  directing  her  where  Christian  sympathy 
could  soothe  her  last  weeks  on  earth.  Dr. 
Finlay  has  been  a  true  friend.  He  directed 
me  to  most  comfortable  lodgings  with  a  coun- 
trywoman of  our  own,  the  widow  of  a  doctor. 
She  says  she  knew  you  in  her  youth.  My  in- 
tention was  to  start  for  home  with  the  children 
as  soon  as  the  spring  weather  permitted,  but 
circumstances  altered  all  my  plans ;  and  only 
for  you,  dearest  aunt,  I  would  be  content  now 
to  remain  in  this  country  the  rest  of  my  life. 
But  I  must  tell  you  all  in  order. 

Dr.  Finlay  (nearly  all  the  popular  ministers 
appear  to  be  doctors  here)  was,  of  course,  the 
only  friend  I  had  when  I  came  out,  and  the 
children  lived  at  his  house.  They  are  lovely 
and  engaging  little  things ;  every  one  is  fond 
of  them.  Eliza,  the  little  girl  called  for  my 
mother  and  for  me,  is  a  sweet  child.  Of  course 
I  saw  a  great  deal  of  Dr.  Finlay,  though  he 
has  a  very  large  congregation  here,  and  a 
great  deal  to  do.  We  had  much  to  speak  of 
— about  home,  about  poor  Jane,  about  her  sad 


156  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

troubles.  Dr.  Finlay  says  I  used  to  be  merry 
at  his  expense,  and  that  he  was  afraid  of  me 
at  home.  I  am  sure  I  do  not  remember  this. 
I  know  I  always  respected  and  valued  him, 
and  I  remember  my  dear  mother  had  great 
expectations  for  him.  But,  be  this  as  it  ma}^, 
he  says  he  had  made  up  his  mind  never  to 
marry,  and  considered  that  the  Lord,  by  send- 
ing the  children  into  his  house  and  care,  point- 
ed out  his  duty — to  take  and  train  them  for 
God.  I  need  not,  dearest  aunt,  go  into  par- 
ticulars ;  the  end  is,  that  he  has  earnestly  beg- 
ged me  to  become  his  wife,  to  remain  and  help 
him  to  bring  up  the  children,  and  assist  him 
in  his  pastoral  work.  If  you  saw  him  and 
knew  him,  dearest  aunt,  you  would  decide  for 
me  as  I  am  doing.  He  says  we  shall  go  over 
to  Ireland,  and  let  you  see  the  children.  He 
is  so  noble,  so  unselfish,  and  so  pure.  The 
people  here  all  look  up  to  him.  One  of  his 
great  works — "  holiday  work,"  he  calls  it — is 
promoting  Tempera.nce  ;  and  if  you  heard  him 
speak  to  crowds  of  working  people,  who  are 
at  one  moment  laughing  over  his  descriptions, 
and  the  next  crying  with  him,  you  Avould  see 


THE  POISONED  CUP.  157 

what  a  v/orld  of  good  he  is  capable  of  doing. 
He  has  a  large  and  beautiful  church,  built  of 
brick,  and  fronted  with  marble  ;  and  though 
he  is  not  long  in  Philadelphia,  and  only  eight 
years  in  America,  they  say  he  is  "  leaving  his 
mark  on  the  mind  of  the  people." 

But,  dearest  aunt,  I  must  not  weary  you  ; 
yet  I  wished  you — the  only  one  whose  wishes 
I  am  bound  to  consult — to  know  all  about  this, 
to  me,  most  important  matter.  There  is  only 
one  thing  to  mention  to  you,  and  I  hope,  dear- 
est aunt,  the  affection  you  always  showed  to 
me  and  my  poor  sister  will  enable  you  to  un- 
derstand my  feelings,  and  plead  my  excuse  if 
I  am  venturing  to  make  an  improper  sugges- 
tion. You  told  me  your  kind  intention  was 
to  leave  me  the  means  you  have,  when  the 
Lord  should  call  you  away,  which  I  hope  will 
not  be  for  long.  Now,  I  shall  not  want  any- 
thing more  than  T  have.  Dr.  Finlay  says  we 
shall  have  "  enough  and  to  spare  " — (would 
that  it  had  been  so  v\rith  my  poor  sister !) — 
and  if  you  feel  it  right  to  give  to  her  children 
what  you  would  have  given  to  me,  I  shall  feel 
happy,  and   they   will  grow  up  feeling  that 


158  THE  POISONED  CUP. 

they  are  not  dependent.  Forgive  rac  making 
this  request,  pray  that  I  may  be  fitted  for  the 
duties  I  am  to  undertake,  Dr.  Finlay  says,  as 
early  in  summer  as  he  can  take  a  month's 
holiday.  It  is  whispered  among  the  people 
that  they  will  request  him  to  go  to  Europe, 
believing  that,  to  a  mind  like  his,  travel  would 
be  a  great  increase  of  his  power  to  benefit 
them,  and  then  I  should  have  the  pleasure  of 
presenting  him  to  you.  But  this  seems  a  hap- 
piness beyond  what  might  be  expected  '•  for 
the  likes  of  me,"  as  Mary  (who  was  the  faith- 
ful servant  of  my  sister,  and  is  now  the  same 
to  Dr.  Finlay)  is  in  the  habit  of  saying  of  her- 
self. God  bless  you,  dearest  aunt,  and  re- 
ward you  a  hundred-fold  for  all  your  love 
and  affection  for  your  grateful  and  ever-at- 
tached niece, 

Eliza  Meldon. 


\^^?w 


A    SAFE   CONDITION. 


A  CHAPTER  OF  ELEMENTARY  THEOLOGY. 


MAN  of  fair  secular  intelligence  once 
said  to  me,  "  My  wife,  sir,  has  no 
faith.  Now,  it's  not  so  with  me;  I 
am  naturally  religious ;  I  think  I  am 
half  converted."  I  had  regarded  this  as  a 
piece  of  gross  ignorance,  but  a  friend  told  me 
he  heard  a  London  minister  tell  his  hearers, 
without  any  qualification,  that  many  of  them 
were  "only  half  converted ;"  and  I  have  cer- 
tainly met  with  some  intelligent  persons  who 
looked  for  certain  well-defined  stages  in  their 
turning  to  the  Lord,  such  as  a  period  for 
awakening,  another  for  repenting,  and  anoth- 
er for  hoping  and  believing.  Their  mistake 
is  countenanced  by  hasty  reading  of  books 
like  Doddridge's  "  Rise  and  Progress  of  Re- 

(159) 


i6o  A  SAFE  CONDITION. 

ligion  in  the  Soul,"  which  seek  to  methodize 
the  movements  of  a  soul  under  good  in- 
fluences. The  protection  against  such  mis- 
takes lies  in  an  accurate  and  comprehensive 
view  of  the  aspects  in  which  true  religion  or 
divine  life  in  the  soul  is  presented  in  the 
Word  of  God.  This  may  be  taken  easily  and 
simply  for  practical  purposes,  by  examining 
the  words  used  to  describe  godly  people — 
some  referring  to  their  state,  some  to  their 
character.  The  order  in  which  we  take  the 
words  is  of  no  importance. 

They  are  redeemed.  This  term  has  respect 
to  the  penalty  under  which  they  lay,  and 
which  Christ  paid.  So  it  runs  (Gal.  iii.  13) — 
"  Christ  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of 
the  law."  His  payment  was  not  in  coin,  but 
in  kind.  So  it  runs  in  i  Peter  i.  18,  19 — "  Ye 
were  redeemed  with  the  precious  blood  of 
Christ."  These  are  all  safe.  "  The  ransomed 
of  the  Lord  shall  return  and  come  to  Zion 
with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their 
heads"  (Isaiah  xxxv.  10).  The  whole  busi- 
ness of  redeeming,  however,  is  outside  them- 
selves.    It  has  been  done  by  Christ.     It  gains 


A  SAFE  CONDITION.  i6r 

for  Him  one  of  the  names  which  His  people 
pronounce  with  special  tenderness  and  con- 
fidence. "  Their  Redeemer  is  mighty."  The 
word  is  of  the  Old  Testament ;  but  the  act  of 
delivering  shall  be  remembered  in  this  form 
for  ever  on  earth,  for  ever  in  heaven.  The 
burden  of  the  new  song  is — "  Thou  hast  re- 
deemed us  to  God  by  Thy  blood  "  (Rev.  iv.  9). 
They  are  saved.  This  term  has  respect  to 
their  danger  from  Satan,  death,  and  the  eter- 
nal consequences  of  sin.  The  preaching  of 
the  cross  "  is  to  us  who  are  saved  the  power 
of  God  "  (i  Cor.  i.  18).  In  thinking  of  us,  set- 
tling the  mode  of  saving,  giving  the  Saviour, 
and  connecting  us  with  Him  by  faith,  God 
was  influenced  by  love,  pity,  and  patient,  for- 
giving generosity.  "  By  grace  are  ye  saved." 
Among  the  old  heroic  tales  is  that  of  An- 
dromeda chained  to  a  rock  in  the  ocean  that  a 
monster  might  devour  her,  and  Neptune  be 
appeased.  But  Perseus  saw  and  loved  her, 
vanquished  the  monster,  and  married  the  res- 
cued maiden.  Fable  as  it  is,  Pliny  fixes  the 
scene  at  Joppa,  in  Judea.  We  know  the 
truth  of  which  it  was  perhap'3  a  poetical  and 


162  A  SAFE  CONDITION. 

unconscious  prophecy.  Bound  down  by  guilt 
and  awaiting  our  doom,  the  Lord  saw,  pitied, 
saved,  and  united  to  Himself.  "  The  Bride 
the  Lamb's  wife "  is  the  gathering  of  the 
saved.  "  Thy  Redeemer  is  thy  husband,"  O 
Church  of  the  living  God  ! 

They  are  pardoned.  This  is  wholly  an  Old 
Testament  word ;  our  translators  did  not  use 
it  in  the  New,  but  employed  for  it  the  equiv- 
alent "  forgiven."  This  word  has  respect  to 
the  offence  we  gave  the  Lord  by  our  sins. 
"Your  sins  are  forgiven  you  "  (i  John  ii.  12). 
The  offended  God  forgives  for  Christ's  sake. 
"  Even  as  God,  for  Christ's  sake,  hath  for- 
given you "  (Eph.  iv.  32).  That  to  which 
God  has  respect  in  Christ  is  His  atonement ; 
hence  it  is  said — "  In  whom  we  have  redemp- 
tion through  His  blood,  the  forgiveness  of 
sins "  (Eph.  i.  7).  To  look  for  forgiveness 
elsewhere  than  through  His  blood  is  to  look 
in  vain  for  ever.  If  you  have  a  broken  bone 
to  set  you  have  a  choice  of  surgeons :  or  if 
you  have  a  case  to  be  tried  you  have  a  choice 
of  attorneys :  but  for  your  soul's  salvation  you 
have  no  choice.     "  One  God  and  one  Media- 


A  SAFE  CONDITION.  163 

tor."  This  forgiveness  is  complete,  v  revocable, 
and  cordial.  "  I,  even  I,  am  He  that  blotteth 
out  thy  transgression,  for  mine  ov/n  sake,  and 
will  not  remember  thy  sins  "  (Isaiah  xliii.  25). 

They  are  believers.  This  term  has  respect 
to  God's  word  to  them,  which  the  godless  re- 
ject and  the  godly  receive.  The  noun  is 
used  only  twice  in  Scripture,  but  we  have  the 
verb  hundreds  of  times.  When  God's  hand, 
laid  bare  on  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  solemnized 
men,  and  strengthened  the  Church,  "  believ- 
ers were  the  more  added  to  the  Lord  "  (Acts 
V.  14).  To  them  pastors  give  spiritual  food, 
for  they  alone  are  living  and  can  be  fed  ;  you 
cannot  feed  dead  men  ;  and  to  them  they  are 
to  set  an  example.  So  ministers,  however 
young,  are  to  win  respect.  "■  Let  no  man 
despise  thy  youth  ;  but  be  thou  an  example 
of  the  believers  "  (i  Tim.  iv.  12).  Happy  that 
people  whose  minister  can  be  held  up  as  a 
pattern  in  "  word,  in  conversation,  in  charity, 
in  spirit,  in  faith,  in  purity."  What  a  sixfold 
shield  covers  true  religion  there  from  the  ar- 
rows of  the  gainsayers ! 

They  are  quickened.     ''  You  hath  he  quick- 


l64  A  SAFE  CONDITION. 

ened  "  (Eph.  ii,  i).  The  Holy  Ghost  effects 
this  quickening  (Tit.  iii.  5).  The  word  is  the 
means  of  giving  life  and  renewing  it  (Psalm 
cxix.  50).  "  For  thy  word  hath  quickened 
me."  But  this  can  only  take  place  in  virtue 
of  the  life  in  Christ,  to  whom  the  Holy  Ghost 
joins  the  dead  soul,  and  Christ — the  second 
Adam  being  unlike  the  first — is  "  a  quickening 
Spirit"  (i  Cor.  xv.  45).  "  The  Son  thusquick- 
eneth  whom  He  will"  (John  v.  21).  In  point 
of  law,  and  in  God's  sight,  all  the  people  of 
Christ  are  entitled  to  life  in  virtue  of  Christ's 
rising  from  the  dead.  In  point  of  fact,  they 
are  "  quickened  together  with  Christ "  (Eph. 
ii.  5)  when  they  believe  His  Gospel,  and  are 
actually  joined  to  Him.  In  infants,  the  mo- 
ment of  regeneration  or  quickening,  is  the 
moment  when,  in  His  own  unexplained  way, 
the  Holy  Ghost  grafts  the  dead  limb  of  the 
first  Adam  on  the  living  stock  of  the  second  ; 
in  others,  the  moment  when  self-consciously 
or  not,  the  soul  rests  upon  Christ  for  salva- 
tion, is  the  time  of  quickening,  the  hour  of 
regeneration,  the  day  of  the  new  birth. 

You  cannot  tell,  dear  friend,  when  that  took 


A  SAFE  CONDITION.  165 

place  with  you?  But  you  are  living  now? 
Let  that  suffice.  Suppose  you  had  a  fever, 
and  long  days  and  nights  of  burning  pain  and 
unconsciousness  are  followed  by  the  crisis  and 
the  recovery,  what  matter  to  you  that  you 
cannot  tell  the  very  hour  when  you  turned 
the  corner  and  began  to  creep  away  from  the 
gates  of  the  grave  ?  You  are  better  now ; 
good  food,  plenty  of  air,  and  exercise  will 
make  you  strong  again.  So  it  is  with  your 
soul.  You  are  resting  on  Christ  now.  Grow 
up  into  Him  in  all  things.  You  will  have 
time  enough  in  heaven  to  celebrate  your  spir- 
itual birth-day,  for  there  you  shall  know  all 
about  it. 

They  are  converted.  The  new  life  given  in 
regeneration,  like  the  new  power  given  to  the 
needle  when  it  is  laid  on  the  load-stone,  turns 
Godward.  So  it  is  written,  "  Repent  and  be 
converted,  that  your  sins  maybe  blotted  out" 
(Acts  iii.  19).  The  word  is  used  actively  to 
describe  the  instrumental  service  a  saint  may 
render,  in  James  v.  20.  "  He  which  convert- 
eth  the  sinner  from  the  error  of  his  way  shall 
save  a  soul  from   death."      With  a  laudable 


166  A  SAFE  CONDITION. 

anxiety  to  give  the  honor  of  His  unparticipat- 
ed  work  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  Christians  com- 
monly avoid  this  mode  of  expression.  It  re- 
cals  to  many  the  man  who  staggered  up  to 
Whitfield  in  drunkenness  with  ''  Do  you  not 
know  me  ?  I  am  one  of  your  converts."  "  Yes, 
you  are  very  like  one  of  my  converts."  But  he 
emphasized  the  "  my  "  to  shov/  that  the  Spirit 
of  God  had  no  hand  in  it.  Any  hand  may  be 
the  instrument — the  Divine  Spirit  is  always 
the  agent ;  but  the  instrument  is  sometimes 
put  for  the  agent,  as  when  we  say  ''faith 
saves,"  or  "  the  Gospel  saves,"  neither  of 
which  phrases  excludes  the  Holy  Ghost  or 
the  Redeemer,  to  whom  he  bears  witness. 

The  word  converted  is  applied  to  Peter 
when  it  seems  to  mican  "  restored  after  fall- 
ing." "  When  thou  art  converted,  strengthen 
thy  brethren."  God  is  His  own  interpreter; 
and  the  subsequent  life  of  Peter,  and  the  sol- 
emn warnings  of  his  two  epistles,  disclose  the 
meaning  of  what  has  been,  we  conceive,  fanci- 
fully called  "  second  conversion,"  but  which 
had  been  better  called  in  this  instance  recov- 
ery, and  in  ordinary  cases  "  revival." 


A  SAFE  CONDITION.  167 

They  are  children  of  God.  The  verb  "  adopt " 
is  not  used  concerning  them,  but  the  noun 
from  it  is,  and  they  are  given  "  the  spirit  of 
adoption.''  Any  man  may  take  a  beggar's 
child  and  bring  it  up  as  a  gentleman,  but  he 
cannot  be  sure  of  infusing  the  feelings  and 
spirit  of  a  gentleman.  But  when  the  Lord 
makes  outcasts  his  children  He  makes  sure 
that  they  shall  feel  towards  Him  as  children 
to  a  father  by  putting  His  regenerating  and 
sanctifying  Spirit  within  them.  The  adop- 
tion depends  on  redemption.  God  sent  His 
Son  "  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the 
law,  that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of 
sons  "  (Gal.  iv.  5).  The  result  is  that  the  re- 
deemed are  **  heirs  of  God,  joint  heirs  with 
Christ."  At  present  they  hold  "  promises  to 
pay  "  to  an  incalculable  amount.  When  these 
bonds  become  due  they  shall  realize  their 
value  in  an  "  inheritance  incorruptible,  unde- 
filed,  and  that  fadeth  not  away." 

They  are  sanctified.  To  proclaim  a  person 
holy — "  sanctify  the  Lord  God" — to  purify  one 
not  pure  before  —  to  set  apart  to  a  definite 
holy  use  —  these  are  three    senses   in  which 


I68  A  SAFE  CONDITION. 

this  word  is  used.  In  the  third  sense  Christ 
sanctified  Himself,  in  the  second  the  Holy 
Ghost  sanctifies  men.  When  the  Irish  Mil- 
litia  were  embodied  in  1854,  they  created 
some  natural  excitement  among  the  lads  of 
the  county  town  in  which  I  then  labored. 
My  duties  led  me  among  them  when  small- 
pox broke  out,  and  the  invalids  were  placed 
under  canvas.  But  the  risk  of  infection  did 
not,  I  observed,  check  the  curiosity  of  the 
idlers,  who  could  with  difficulty  be  kept 
from  the  contagious  spot.  Suppose  a  lad  for- 
bidden by  his  parents  to  go  near  the  tents, 
yet  does  go  and  catch  the  infection.  His  dis- 
eased and  loathsome  flesh  proclaims  his  dis- 
obedience ;  and  he  needs  now  not  only 
his  father's  forgiveness,  but  medical  treat- 
ment. So  it  is  with  us.  We  have  disobeyed 
and  need  pardon;  but  our  sin  is  in  us  —  an 
evil  disease  cleaving  to  us,  and  we  need  One 
"  who  forgiveth  our  iniquities,  who  healeth 
our  diseases  "  (Ps.  ciii.  3).  Holiness  is  spiritual 
health.  It  is  provided  for  us  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  who  comes,  in  Christ's  name,  to  ren- 
der us  spiritual.     The  word  "  sanctify"  is  an 


A  SAFE  CONDITION.  169 

Old  Testament  word,  but  the  result  it  de- 
notes is  enjoined  in  the  New  Testament,  be- 
gun on  earth  in  regeneration,  and  perfected 
in  heaven. 

It  appears,  then,  from  a  consideration  of  these 
various  words,  that  the  safe  state  of  the  soul 
may  be  variously  described,  the  terms  being 
selected  from  reference  to  something  in  the 
previous  condition  or  relation  of  the  sinner. 
He  was  in  darkness ;  now  he  is  enlightened. 
He  was  blind  ;  now  he  sees.  He  was  in  un- 
belief; now  he  has  faith.  He  was  far  off; 
now  he  is  made  nigh.  He  was  an  alien  from 
God  ;  now  he  is  a  child.  He  was  going  after 
sin ;  he  is  now  converted.  He  was  corrupt ; 
he  is  born  again,  and  a  new  creature.  He 
was  in  guilt ;  he  is  justified.  He  was  not 
under  the  influence  of  God  ;  he  is  now  being 
made  godly,  or  spiritual,  or  holy,  for  the 
Word  and  Spirit  of  God  guide  him.  He 
A^as  sinning  freely ;  he  is  now  penitent.  These 
are  not  separate  stages  in  his  career,  but  sep- 
arate descriptions  of  it.  As  when  a  drown- 
ing man  is  being  restored,  the  breathing,  feel- 
ing, moving,  swallowing,  seeing  are  not  suc- 
8 


I70  A  SAFE  CONDITION. 

cessive  stages  in  his  reanimation,  but  separate 
aspects  of  his  condition,  any  one  of  them  im- 
plying the  rest;  so  faith  implies  penitence, 
penitence  enlightenment,  and  enlightenment 
the  Spirit's  work.  To  receive  Christ  is  to  be 
forgiven,  to  be  born  again,  to  become  a  child 
of  God,  to  be  saved.  He  who  believes  is  con- 
verted, is  born  again,  is  saved. 

It  appears,  then,  that  "  half- conversion  "  is 
an  absurdity.  A  man  receives  Christ  or  re- 
jects Him,  is  born  again  or  is  yet  in  his  sin. 
Men  may  be  restrained  by  the  Word  of  God, 
or  the  power  of  conscience,  or  the  force  of 
natural  principle  or  of  habit,  but  they  are 
either  in  Christ  or  in  sin. 

It  appears,  too,  that  no  one  should  say,  "  I 
am  now  awakened ;  by  and  by  I  shall  be 
penitent ;  then  I  shall  believe,  and  at  length 
be  a  Christian."  There  is  no  need  in  the 
nature  of  things  for  the  inten'al.  "  To-day 
if  ye  will  hear  his  voice,  harden  not  your 
heart."  Do  you  know  to-day  that  Christ 
saves  sinners  ?  Then  your  instant  and  im- 
mediate duty,  that  will  not  and  cannot  wait 
for  any  other,  is  to  go  to  Him.      Questions 


A  SAFE  condition: 


171 


as  to  being  born  again,  penitent  enough, 
awake  enough,  instructed  sufficiently,  ear- 
nest enough — are  all  to  be  put  aside,  and  you 
are  to  go  to  Christ  and  believe  on  Him.  In 
the  act  of  putting  your  soul  on  Him  for  salva- 
tion, you  get  all  these  questions  practically 
answered  in  your  interest,  and  3'ou  are  born 
again,  and  converted,  and  made  a  child  of 
God  through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus. 


THE   CRISIS   AND   THE   CRY. 


PLEA  of  an  unwonted  kind  is  urged 
|]  in  prayer  to  God  by  the  Psalmist 
(cxix.  1 26),  "  It  is  time  for  Thee,  Lord, 
to  work,  for  they  have  made  void 
Thy  law."  The  idea  of  the  Psalmist  seems 
to  have  been,  that  men  so  generally  and 
grievously  sinned,  and  that  efforts  put  forth 
to  check  them  so  lamentably  failed,  that 
nothing  but  the  direct  interference  of  the 
Lord  could  remedy  the  evil,  and  meet  the 
wants  of  the  case.  He  seems  to  speak  under 
a  profound  sense  of  man's  helplessness  and 
guiltiness.  He  feels  that  the  case  is  desperate, 
and  from  man  he  makes  his  appeal  unto  God 
— "  It  is  time  for  Thee  to  work."  If  the  cause 
still  exist,  namely,  the  general  and  grievous 
(172) 


THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY.  173 

transgression  of  God's  law,  then  the  cry 
should  still  go  up  also,  "■  It  is  time  for  Thee 
to  work." 

Does  the  cause  exist  ?  There  can  be  but 
one  answer:  Men  have  made  void  God's 
law  of  order.  He  best  knows  the  relative 
values  of  things,  and  is  entitled  to  prescribe 
the  amount  and  kind  of  attention  we  should 
give  to  them.  He  has  promulgated  a  law  on 
this  point.  Jesus,  His  Son,  puts  it  thus  in 
Matt.  vi.  33 — "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  His  righteousness."  The  meaning 
is  plain.  If  your  child  is  dangerously  ill,  you 
forget  a  variety  of  important  and  lawful  ques- 
tions as  to  how  he  shall  be  educated,  clothed, 
and  get  a  profession,  and  you  concentrate  all 
attention  on  the  one,  "  How  shall  he  be  saved 
from  death?"  till  it  is  conclusively  settled. 
This  is  common  sense.  So  should  it  be  here 
as  to  ourselves.  Settle  first  the  pressing,  all- 
important  business  —  of  being  saved  —  and 
other  things  in  their  places.  This  is  not 
merely  enjoined.  It  is  exemplified.  Solomon 
asked  wisdom  as  the  principal  and  most 
urgent    thing,  and  got  it,    and  with  it  riches 


174  THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY. 

and  honors.  So  God  v/ill  give  with  His 
righteousness  "  other  things" — not  all  "good 
things,"  for  the  Lord  is  careful  not  to  convey- 
that  idea.  Now  there  is  God's  law  of  order. 
Have  not  men  generally  made  it  void  ?  Have 
they  not  reversed  it  ?  Have  they  not  first 
sought  the  "■  other  things,"  and  believed  that, 
by  the  way,  in  the  intervals  of  the  eager  pur- 
suit, they  could  well  enough  secure  the  king- 
dom ?  Have  they  not  generally  regarded  the 
primary  business  of  life  as  a  quite  different 
thing  from  seeking  the  kingdom  ?  I  appeal 
to  yourselves,  my  readers,  for  the  confirma- 
tion of  this.  God  says — "  First  spiritual,  then 
temporal ;  first  the  soul,  then  the  body  —  first 
the  life  that  is  eternal,  then  the  life  that  now 
is."  Man  says  —  "First  the  temporal,  then 
the  spiritual ;  first  the  body,  then  the  soul ; 
first  the  present  life,  then  the  eternal."  What 
God  puts  first,  men  put  last ;  what  God  puts 
last,  men  put  first.  His  law  of  order  men 
make  void.  It  is  so  in  the  education  of  our 
children,  in  selecting  professions,  in  choosing 
company  for  them,  in  choosing  our  houses, 
in  laying  our   plans,   and   carrying   out   our 


THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY.  175 

arrangements.  It  is  so  from  the  first,  and  as 
the  pitching  of  the  first  note  tells  on  the 
whole  tune,  so  the  choice  made  at  the  be- 
ginning tells  on  the  life.  We  are  worldly 
when  we  should  be  spiritual,  and  our  stock 
of  affection  is  invested  in  earthly  things  when 
it  ought  to  be  in  heavenly.  Our  views  are 
perverted  by  the  early  and  fatal  error.  The 
rich  fool  is  of  more  account  in  our  eyes  than 
the  poor  wise  man,  and  the  acquirer  of  large 
means  we  count  successful  when  the  prize 
has,  mayhap,  been  won  by  the  loss  of  an  im- 
mortal soul. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  form  in  which  men 
violate  God's  law  of  order.  Convinced  of 
sin,  and  impressed  with  the  need  and  value 
of  religion,  we  begin  to  set  about  it.  We 
put  on  a  few  of  its  trappings,  and  incidental 
attendants ;  we  lop  off  a  few  of  the  indulg- 
ences and  sins  to  which  it  is  opposed,  and  we 
set  ourselves  laboriously  to  reform.  Now, 
God's  law  of  order  is  quite  different.  It  is 
"make  the  tree  good"  (Matt.  xii.  33).  God 
would  have  us  begin  where  he  begins.  "A 
new  heart  will  I  give  you."      And,  indeed, 


176  THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY. 

until  we  do  begin  there,  we  have  neither  hope 
nor  comfort  in  the  occasional  struggles  we 
make  under  conviction  of  sin,  after  goodness 
and  holiness.  Until  we  have  fled  to  Christ, 
our  self-reform  is  of  little  value  in  time,  and 
of  no  value  as  regards  eternity. 

God  has,  beyond  all  doubt,  promulgated  a 
law  of  Equity,  a  law  of  right  to  which  obedi- 
ence should  be  rendered.  It  is  by  no  means 
so  involved  or  complicated  as  human  law 
necessarily  is.  "  Therefore  all  things  whatso- 
ever ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do 
ye  even  so  to  them ;  for  this  is  the  law  and 
the  prophets"  (Matt.  vii.  12).  Now,  how  is 
this  law  too  generally  treated  ?  Do  not  the 
abounding  frauds  of  our  own  time,  and  every 
time,  answer?  "It  is  naught,  it  is  naught," 
saith  the  buyer,  and  when  he  has  cajoled  the 
simple  vendor,  and  got  a  bargain,  ''  he  goeth 
his  way  and  straightway  boasteth  himself." 
Is  it  not  so  ?  Are  there  not  men  of  whom  it 
would  be  said,  ''  They  will  not  do  for  busi- 
ness, they  are  too  simple,  not  up  to  the  tricks 
of  trade  ?"  Are  there  not  men  whose  forte 
lies  in  the  capacity  to  detect  the  sharper  and 


THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY.  177 

the  cheat  ?  Are  there  not  multitudes  whose 
business  is  a  continual  imposition  on  the 
weakness,  the  credulity,  or  the  ignorance  of 
their  fellows ;  whose  life  is  a  continual  swindle  ? 
Are  there  not  many  whose  only  hope  of  a 
livelihood  is  in  trading  on  the  simplicity,  and 
even  on  the  compassion  of  others?  Nay, 
what  is  more  appaUing  still,  men  believing 
themselves  honest  and  truthful,  have  so  far 
had  the  moral  sense  deadened,  and  so  far 
fallen  in  with  the  system,  that  they  do  not 
much  scruple  to  promulgate  as  "  a  matter  of 
business,"  what  could  not  be  maintained  as  a 
matter  of  simple  fact !  How  many  lies  our 
dead  walls  are  made  to  proclaim !  How 
many  untrue  advertisements  are  there  on  the 
pages  of  your  newspaper !  How  much  is 
disclosed  in  every  law  court,  of  deception, 
fraud,  and  injustice,  following  men  through 
life,  not  only  in  the  shop,  or  the  counting- 
house,  but  absolutely  hunting  them  on  their 
death-bed,  an-d  victimizing  them  while  their 
faculties  are  being  blunted,  and  their  vision 
dimmed  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  ! 
God  has  proclaimed  a  law  of  love  for  His 


178  THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CR  V. 

creatures,  "And  hath  made  of  one  blood  all 
nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  hath  determined  the  times  be- 
fore appointed,  and  the  bounds  of  their  habi- 
tation"(Acts  xvii.  26).  He  has  said,  "  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself"  (Mark  xii. 
30).  How  is  this  obeyed  ?  Let  the  answer 
come  from  the  Continent  of  Europe.  Listen 
to  the  measured  tread  of  armed  thousands, 
trained,  equipped,  hired  at  enormous  cost,  for 
the  express  and  simple  business  of  slaying, 
most  effectively,  their  fellows.      Look  at 

"  Those  huge  leviathans  that  make, 
Their  clay-creator  the  vain  title  take, 
Lord  of  the  sea,  and  arbiter  of  war." 

"Ah,  but,"  you  say,  "  these  are  hostile 
parties,  and  the  conclusion  drawn  is  too  gen- 
eral for  the  premises."  Well,  look  at  society 
among  ourselves.  Legal  and  police  establish- 
ments are  needed  to  keep  us  from  wrong  and 
violence  to  one  another.  The  gallows  is  one 
of  our  institutions  in  Christian,  civilized  Brit- 
ain and  America,  and  our  jails  are  among  our 
finest  edifices.  And  where  God's  law  of  love 
is  not  made  void  in  some  violent  and  aggres- 


THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY.  179 

sive  wa}^,  yet  how  many  other  violations  are 
there  of  it  ?  How  many  petty  jealousies  and 
little  feuds,  are  there — wraths,  strifes,  quar- 
rels, handed  down  from  sire  to  son,  from 
generation  to  generation  ?  Is  it  thus  men 
love  one  another  ?  "  Well,  but  this  is  in  the 
worlds  Then  look  into  the  Church.  How 
much  sectarian  hate,  contempt  and  jealousy 
are  met  with  even  there  ?  Such  an  one  does 
not  belong  to  my  Church,  so  I  treat  him  as 
of  a  lower  caste  ;  or  if  he  be  very  humble  and 
submissive,  I  patronize  him  as  a  dependent. 
Such  an  amount  of  good  is  being  done,  but 
not  in  my  Church.  Then  I  doubt  it,  suspect 
it,  underrate  it,  and  only  reluctantly  admit 
it  at  last !  Is  it  not  so  ?  Are  we  not  all 
guilty  in  this  thing  ?  "  For  the  divisions  of 
Reuben  there  were  great  searchings  of  heart," 
in  the  days  of  Deborah.  We  think  there 
should  be  great  searching  of  heart  for  the 
division  of  Christians  now.  "  Well,  but  this 
is  in  rival  Churches.  It  is  not  a  fair  test. 
Look  in  single  Churches  and  congregations." 
Now,  can  we  say  even  here,  that  the  law  of 
love  reigns  paramount  ?      Even  within  con- 


t8o  THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY. 

gregations  are  there  no  envyings,  and  small 
jealousies  and  contentions  ?  Are  there  no 
uncharitable  sayings  and  doings  ?  I  declare 
solemnly,  as  a  minister,  I  have  known  and 
met  people  with  comfort  for  months  and 
years,  and  never  detected  their  iniquities  and 
drawbacks,  till  their  fellow  -  worshippers  poi- 
soned my  mind,  and  destroyed  the  comfort 
of  my  intercourse  with  them  by  telling  them  ; 
and  the  worst  things  one  knows  about  many, 
have  been  learnt  from  those  who  should  have 
flung  the  mantle  of  charity  over  fellow-wor- 
shippers. Surely  this  law  of  love  has  been 
generally  and  grievously  made  void  in  the 
world. 

God  has  appointed  a  day  of  sacred  rest, 
called  it  the  Sabbath  ;  and  for  man's  good, 
and  His  own  glory,  made  the  Sabbath  law 
binding.  Some,  indeed,  find  it  convenient  to 
deny  this  obligation,  and  to  tell  us  it  was 
merely  a  Jewish  law,  ceasing  with  the  Jewish 
nation.  They  forget  that  it  was  one  of  the 
Ten  Commandments.  All  the  rest  are  bind- 
ing ;  why  take  this  from  the  bosom  of  the 
decalogue  ? 


THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY.  i8i 

They  forget  it  was  binding  before  Sinai's 
thunders  appalled  the  Jews,  and  declared  a 
present  Deity ;  for  God  said  not  "  Keep  holy," 
but  "■Remember  the  Sabbath."  They  forget 
that  the  Sabbath  law  dates  from  Eden,  not 
from  Sinai.  "  God  rested,"  and  taught  man 
to  rest.  The  Sabbath  was  instituted  before 
the  Jev/s,  or  Moses,  or  Abraham,  or  Noah,  or 
Abel.  "  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man," 
not  for  Jews,  and  hence  found  a  place  in  the 
Decalogue. 

But,  argum.ent  failing,  they  sneer  at  it  as 
^^puritanical,''  i.  e.,  of,  or  belonging  to,  or  like 
the  Puritans.  Is  this  a  reproach  ?  Prayer  is 
so  ;  reading  God's  Word  is  so  ;  family  wor- 
ship is  so  ;  sobriety  is  so  ;  tried  and  trusty 
valor  is  so.  England's  greatness  culminated 
under  the  Puritan  sway.  Nay,  if  we  read 
history  aright,  our  glorious  freedom  is  Puri- 
tanical. So  let  us  not  be  moved  much  by 
this  sneer,  and  let  us  not,  on  account  of  it, 
undervalue  that  holy  day  which  God  made, 
as  the  selvage  to  keep  the  web  of  time  from 
unravelling.  But  how  is  the  Sabbath  law 
made  void-*    Look  only  to  our  towns.    Listen 


1 82  THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY. 

to  the  busy  vv^heels  of  the  pleasure  seekers  ; 
listen  to  the  whistle  of  the  railway.  Look 
at  the  open  shops,  and  see  the  tavern  and  gin 
palace  fling  open  their  inviting  doors.  It 
would  not  be  too  much  to  say,  that  after  a 
hurried  compliance  with  some  form  of  relig- 
ion, to  satisfy  conscience,  there  are  in  this 
land  some  millions  of  people  whose  Sabbaths 
go  substantially  to  the  pursuit  of  pleasure,  or 
the  worship  of  mammon.  Yet,  we  are  not 
worse  than  others,  not  so  bad  as  many.  How 
truly  have  they  made  void  the  Sabbath  law  ! 

For  the  Sabbath  God  has  made  definite  ar- 
rangements. He  has  enjoined  the  public 
worship  of  Himself,  and  the  gathering  of  his 
people  for  the  purpose.  He  attaches  impor- 
tance thereto.  "  He  loveth  the  gates  of  Zion." 
The  stated  and  public  nature  of  the  homage 
so  rendered  to  Him  glorifies  Him  more  than 
the  occasional  and  private  service  of  His  in- 
dividual people.  Yet,  this  law  of  the  sanc- 
tuary men  make  v^oid.  How  many  forsake 
the  assembling  of  themselves  together  !  How 
many  are  there  as  guilty,  but  not  as  candid, 
as  a  man  from  Sabbath-loving  Scotland,  who 


THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY.  183 

once  told  me  in  answer  to  my  question,  *'  I 
spend  my  Sabbath  in  the  public-house,  sir." 
But  more  than  this,  God  has  given  a  law  to 
regulate  the  worship.  Hear  it  from  Jesus  : 
"  God  is  a  Spirit ;  and  they  that  worship 
Him  must  worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth." 
Now,  I  do  not  speak  of  superstitious  wor- 
ship, nor  of  ignorant  and  erroneous  worship, 
but  of  that  offered  by  those  who  hold  the 
truth.  Look  around  our  churches ;  how 
many  faces  betray  no  sign  of  reverence  or 
godly  fear !  Eyes  wander  in  vain  curiosity, 
or  stupid  indifference,  and  not  unfrequently 
the  smile  of  the  giddy  indicates  too  truly 
that,  whatever  else  they  do,  they  are  not 
worshipping  God.  They  came  avowedly  to 
meet  Him,  and  profess  to  believe  He  is  spe- 
cially there !  Here  is  one  proclaiming  saving 
truth,  simply  and  plainly ;  here  is  another 
proclaiming  only  the  same  truth,  but  with  a 
statelier  manner,  or  a  more  imposing  elocu- 
tion ;  yet,  one  is  speaking  to  ill-filled  pews, 
while  impatient  crowds  worship  with  the 
other.  Now,  is  it  God  or  man  that  here 
presents  the  attraction  ?     Is  this  worship  of 


1 84  THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY. 

God  ;  or  oi  taste,  or  talent,  or  "originality  "?  It 
must  be  admitted  that  the  law  of  the  sanctu- 
ary has  been  sadly  made  void.  We  have  be- 
come the  votaries  of  genius,  instead  of  devout 
and  simple  worshippers  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ; 
fastidious  formalists,  instead  of  hungry  chil- 
dren coming  to  a  Father  to  be  fed,  and  open- 
ing our  mouths  wide  that  He  may  fill  them. 

God  has  revealed  "  tJie  law  of  the  spirit  of 
life  (Rom.  viii.  2)  in  Christ  Jesus."  He  has 
offered  pardon  through  Christ's  blood,  accept- 
ance through  His  righteousness,  life  through 
His  spirit.  Yet,  how  much  is  substituted  for 
this  ?  The  religion  of  taste,  the  religion  of 
the  sacraments,  of  formalism,  of  self-right- 
eousness, supplant  this  true  religion.  How 
few  are  simply  trusting  in  Jesus,  making  Him 
all  in  all,  feeling  themselves  complete  in  Him  ! 
Even  in  churches,  how  few  are  there  who 
can  say,  "  To  me  to  live  is  Christ."  They  have 
made  void  the  law.  David  had  a  profound 
conviction  of  the  helplessness  of  man,  and 
the  inadequacy  of  means,  and  felt  that  the 
Lord  alone  could  effectually  interpose ;  so 
may  we.     "/^  is  time  for  Thee  to  zvorky 


THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY.  185 

There  arc  various  ways  in  which  God 
works,  as  for  example,  in  the  way  of  judg- 
ment. The  old  world  had  made  void  God's 
law.  The  deluge  swept  away  its  race  of 
transgressors.  The  sin  of  Sodom  had  gone 
up  to  heaven,  and  fire  came  down  and  de- 
stroyed it.  The  Ninevites  had  grievously 
transgressed,  and  but  for  timely  repentance 
in  forty  days  the  city  had  been  destroyed. 
Jerusalem  sinned,  and  the  Lord's  word  went 
forth,  "  Go  ye  up  and  destroy  ;  take  away 
her  battlements,  for  they  are  not  the  Lord's." 
So  God  does  with  his  enemies.  Awful  words 
are  written  in  Psalm  xcii.  7  — "  When  the 
wicked  spring  as  the  grass,  and  when  all  the 
workers  of  iniquity  do  flourish,  it  is  that  they 
shall  be  destroyed  for  ever." 

He  works  in  the  way  of  grace  and  wonder- 
ful mercy.  You  may  see  it  in  Isaiah  xliii.  22- 
25 — "  But  thou  hast  not  called  upon  me,  O 
Jacob  ;  but  thou  hast  been  weary  of  me,  O 
Israel.  Thou  hast  not  brought  me  the  small 
cattle  of  thy  burnt  offerings,  neither  hast  thou 
honored  me  with  thy  sacrifices  :  I  have  not 
caused  thee  to   serve  with   an  offering,  nor 


186  THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY. 

wearied  thee  with  incense.  Thou  hast  bought 
me  no  sweet  cane  with  money,  neither  hast 
thou  filled  me  with  the  fat  of  thy  sacrifices  ; 
but  thou  hast  made  me  to  serve  with  thy  sins, 
thou  hast  wearied  me  with  thine  iniquities. 
I,  even  I,  am  he  that  blotteth  out  thy  trans- 
gressions for  mine  own  sake,  and  will  not  re- 
member thy  sins."  As  a  painter  sometimes 
puts  a  dark  background  to  throw  his  figure 
into  clearer  light,  so  it  is  here.  When  God 
thus  works,  men  have  a  "  spirit  of  grace  " 
given  unto  them,  leading  them  to  seek  the 
Lord.  They  are  made  to  mourn  for  sin,  to 
cry  for  forgiveness  through  Christ,  and  to 
turn  from  sin  unto  God.  This  is  the  Scrip- 
tural evidence  of  the  work  being  of  God — 
great  effects  on  the  body,  great  fluency  in 
prayer,  great  love,  great  zeal,  great  confi- 
dence, affecting  relations,  being  no  signs  for 
or  against.  But  when  the  heart  is  drawn 
towards  Christ,  and  His  glory  the  chief  thing 
upon  the  mind  ;  when  spiritual  truth  is  valued 
and  fed  upon  ;  when  the  life  is  purified,  then 
there  is  certain  and  undeniable  evidence  that 
the  Lord  is  working. 


THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY.  187 

But,  dear  readers,  God  sometimes  works  in 
the  way  of  judg-ment  and  mercy.  This  is 
illustrated  in  Romans  xi.  22 — "  Behold,  there- 
fore, the  goodness  and  severity  of  God  ;  on 
them  which  fell  severity  ;  but  towards  thee 
goodness,  if  thou  continue  in  his  goodness ; 
otherwise  thou  also  shalt  be  cut  off."  A  time 
of  great  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  and  deliv- 
erance to  the  Church  is  a  time  of  hardening 
and  judgment  to  the  impenitent  and  unbe- 
lieving. The  sun  that  makes  living  plants  to 
grow  withers  the  dead  ;  and  the  operations 
that  draw  men  to  Christ  confirm  sinners  in 
unbelief,  and  enhance  their  guilt.  The  word, 
when  it  goes  forth  with  power,  and  is  the 
savor  of  life  unto  many,  is  the  savor  of  death 
to  the  unbelieving.  Men  who  live  through 
such  a  season,  and  remain  Christless,  are  ex- 
tremely likely  to  continue  so.  God  is  near 
and  is  rejected.  Then  He  may  say,  "■  Let 
them  alone."  Therefore,  my  dear  readers,  be 
your  cry  to  God,  that  He  may  work  in  mercy. 
Leave  the  mode  to  Him.  Do  not  prescribe. 
Seek  to  have  Him  work  in  you — not  in  the 
community  merely,  hut  in  you.    Use  diligently 


i88  THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CRY. 

the  ordinary  means  of  grace.  There  is  less 
risk  of  confounding  excitement  with  a  spir- 
itual work,  in  using  ordinary,  than  extraor- 
dinary, means.  Uo  not  despond.  When 
iniquity  comes  in  like  a  flood,  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  lifts  up  a  standard  against  it.  Our 
extremity  is  God's  opportunity.  Let  us  pray 
that  He  may  revive  us  again,  to  the  glory  of 
His  name. 


COMPANION   PICTURES   FROM  AN 
OLD   MASTER. 


"Thus  saith  the 
Lord :  Cursed  be  the 
man  that  trusteth  in 
man,  and  maketh  flesh 
his  arm,  and  whose 
heart  departeth  from 
the  Lord.  For  he 
shall  be  like  the  heath 
in  the  desert,  and  shall 
not  see  when  good 
Cometh  ;  but  shall  in- 
habit the  parched 
places  in  the  wilder- 
ness, in  a  salt  land  and 
not  inhabited. 


Blessed  is  the  man 
that  trusteth  in  the 
Lord,  and  whose  hope 
the  Lord  is.  For  he 
shall  be  as  a  tree  plant- 
ed by  the  waters,  and 
that  spreadeth  out  her 
roots  by  the  river,  and 
shall  not  see  when 
heat  Cometh,  but  her 
leaf  shall  be  green ; 
and  shall  not  be  care- 
ful in  the  year  of 
drought,  neither  shall 
cease  from  yielding 
fruit." — Jer.  xvii.    5-8. 


[eo^:^f^IS  is  a  long  passage,  but  its  images 


i^^   are  so  grouped  that  they  may,  with 

advantage,    be   looked   at  together ; 

and   by   placing   them    so    close   to 

each  other,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  certainly 

(189) 


igo  COMPANION  PICTURES. 

intimates  that  they  have  some  natural  con- 
nection, and  unity  enough  to  be  studied  to- 
gether. 

The  continental  traveller  reaches,  in  one 
place  at  least,  the  top  of  a  mountain  chain, 
where,  looking  northward,  he  sees  below 
him  a  waste  of  rough  and  ice-clad  rock,  bar- 
ren and  ungenial,  over  which  sweep  biting- 
winds  and  showers  of  snow ;  and,  looking 
south,  he  sees,  stretching  away  to  the  valleys 
below,  groves  of  birch  and  chestnut,  terraces 
of  vines,  crops  of  corn,  flocks  of  cattle,  and 
the  sheen  of  waters  dancing  past  the  white 
huts  of  peaceful  mountaineers.  Something 
like  this  is  the  moral  prospect  suggested  by 
this  passage.  On  one  side  we  have  the  black- 
ness and  the  barrenness  of  an  existence  over 
which  hangs  a  continual  curse — "  Thus  saith 
the  Lord,  Cursed  be  the  man  that  trusteth  in 
man,  and  maketh  flesh  his  arm,  and  whose 
heart  departeth  from  the  Lord.  For  he  shall 
be  like  the  heath  in  the  desert,  and  shall  not 
see  when  good  cometh  ;  but  shall  inhabit  the 
parched  places  in  the  wilderness,  in  a  salt 
land  and  not  inhabited  "  (vs.  5,  6).     On  the 


COMPANION  PICTURES.  191 

other,  we  have  the  greenness  and  beauty  of 
lives  over  which  Divine  blessing  distils  like 
the  dew.  Israel's  tribes  were  once  conducted 
through  a  solemn  ceremony.  About  two 
hours'  journey  from  Samaria,  there  is  a  range 
of  hills,  cloven  across  by  some  convulsion, 
with  a  stream,  and  at  present  the  city  of 
Nablus  lying  in  the  valley  thus  formed.  The 
one  side  of  this  chasm  is  Ebal,  on  the  other 
Gerizim.  On  these  opposite  hills  the  tribes 
were  ranged,  six  on  each,  and  as  the  blessings 
and  curses  of  the  law  were  called  out,  a 
hearty  "  Amen "  from  the  tribes  re-echoed 
over  the  valley  between.  Now,  we  have 
here  the  blessing  and  the  curse,  and  if  our 
consciences  be  in  due  submission  to  God,  we 
shall  be  ready  to  add  our  "Amen"  to  both 
the  one  and  the  other. 

THE    CURSE 

comes  first  in  order.  It  is  drawn  down  upon 
us  by  trusting  in  man,  and  making  flesh  our 
arm.  The  sin  was  committed  by  Israel  when 
they  sought  protection  from  Assyria  and  the 
cavalry  of  Egypt,  instead  of  seeking  unto  the 


192  COMPANION  PICTURES. 

Lord,  who  had  once  desolated  Egypt  on  their 
behalf.  This  sin  is  specially  mentioned  in 
Hosea  xiv.,  for  confession  and  abandonment 
by  the  people  (vs.  i,  2,  3) — '*  O,  Israel !  return 
unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  for  thou  hast  fallen 
by  thine  iniquity.  Take  with  you  words, 
and  turn  to  the  Lord  ;  say  unto  Him — Take 
away  all  iniquity,  and  receive  us  graciously  ; 
so  will  we  render  the  calves  of  our  lips. 
Asshur  shall  not  save  us  ;  we  will  not  ride 
upon  horses  ;  neither  will  we  say  any  more 
to  the  work  of  our  hands.  Ye  are  gods :  for 
in  thee  the  fatherless  findeth  mercy."  He 
who  falls  into  this  sin  flings  off  God,  and  all 
blessing  with  Him — "  His  heart  turneth  away 
from  Jehovah."  It  is  not  roomy  enough  for 
two  confidences.  If  trust  in  man  is  in,  trust 
in  God  had  to  go  out  to  make  place  for  it. 
If  a  man  will  go  into  a  cave,  he  has  only 
himself  to  blame  that  he  has  no  sunlight ; 
and  if  a  man's  heart  depart  from  God,  he  has 
only  himself  to  blame  that  he  has  no  blessing. 
So  Israel  found  it.  Egypt  was  a  reed,  to 
lean  on  which  was  to  get  your  hand  pierced 
through  ;  and  Assyria  first  took  all  the  valua- 


COMPANION  PICTURES.  193 

bles  of  the  people  for  defending  them,  and 
ended  by  taking  themselves.  You  can  easily 
picture  to  yourselves  a  blasted  tree  upon  the 
waste,  from  which  leaves  and  fruit  have  long 
since  gone.  Summer  gales  and  wintry  rains 
are  all  alike  to  it.  It  drinks  in  no  nourish- 
ment, and  gives  forth  no  beauty.  Such 
would  be  an  apt  enough  representation  of 
the  condition  of  Israel. 

"  No  portraits  now  our  foes  amaze  ; 
Forsaken  Israel  wanders  lone  ; 
Our  fathers  would  not  know  thy  ways, 
And  Thou  hast  left  them  to  their  own." 

Such  is  the  figure  in  verse  6.  Indeed, 
Blayney,  in  his  translation,  renders  it — "  For 
he  shall  be  like  a  blasted  tree  upon  the 
wastes."  Returning  to  this  idea,  and  enlarg- 
ing upon  it  (in  vs.  1 1  and  13),  a  single  specimen 
is  given  of  the  whole  class  of  v.  5.  The  par- 
ticular form  of  the  sin  is  an  overweening  love 
of  riches — a  love  so  strong  and  unprincipled 
as  to  lead  to  unjust  means  of  acquiring  them. 
As  the  partridge  hatcheth  eggs  she  hath  not 
brought  forth,  and  as,  being  reared,  the  birds 
quit  her  side,  and,  obedient  to  the  instincts  of 
9 


194  COMPANION  PICTURES. 

nature,  go  to  their  own  kind,  so  the  man  who 
dishonestly  gets  means  shall  lose  them  in  due 
time.  They  will  find  out  lawful  owners. 
They  will  make  to  themselves  wings  and  flee 
away.  The  wealth  of  the  sinner  shall  be  laid 
up  for  the  just ;  and  he,  in  the  end,  shall  be 
written  down  a  felon.  This  is  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  word  "nabal"  (or  "fool"),  and  ex- 
plains David's  words  on  the  assassination  of 
Abner  by  Joab  — "  Died  Abner  as  a  fool 
dieth  ?"  His  hands  were  not  bound,  nor  his 
feet  made  fast  in  the  fetters — did  he  suffer  as 
a  felon  ?  No.  His  arms  were  free,  his  feet 
unchained.  He  fell  by  treachery  and  assas- 
sination —  a  virtuous  man  before  traitors. 
Under  the  Jewish  laws,  felony  or  treason 
would  be  the  right  word  for  forsaking  God, 
who  was  the  Monarch  of  the  people,  so  that 
to  disown  Him  was  not  only  irreligion,  but 
high  treason,  and  punishable,  as  with  us,  by 
death.  Do  not  think  that  this  is  the  only 
form  of  sin  over  which  the  curse  impends. 
This  is  only  a  specimen  of  the  class  of  offen- 
ses described  —  a  type  of  the  crimes  on 
which  the  curse  is  denounced.     All  who  trust 


COMPANION  PICTURES.  195 

in  the  fleshly  arm — all  who  depart  from  the 
fountain  of  living  waters,  whatever  the  quar- 
ter to  which  they  turn,  come  under  the  curse. 
They  may  make  gain  their  portion,  like  Ba- 
laam or  Judas  ;  or  power  and  place,  like  Joab ; 
or  ambition,  like  Absalom  ;  or  "  this  present 
world,"  like  Demas  ;  or  mere  sensual  enjoy- 
ment, like  the  rich  fool  ;  but  over  them  is 
suspended  the  awful  curse  from  the  lips  of  an 
angry  God. 

WARNING  TO   US. 

Nor  imagine,  dear  readers,  that  all  this  is 
Old  Testament  doctrine,  having  no  counter- 
part in  the  New.  Does  any  one  think  that, 
under  the  New  Testament,  there  is  no  de- 
parting from  God  ?  no  trusting  in  the  arm  of 
flesh  ?  or  that  there  is  no  curse  upon  this  sin 
inider  the  New  Testament  ?  Did  ye  never 
read  what  is  written  in  i  Cor.  xvi.  23 — "  If 
any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let 
him  be  anathema,  maranatha  "  —  accursed 
when  the  Lord  shall  come  ?  Christ  is  the 
arm  of  the  Lord,  His  creating,  revealing, 
judging,    saving   arm.     Let   any   of   us,    dis- 


196  COMPANION  PICTURES. 

trusting  Him,  put  our  trust  in  anything  else 
whatever,  and  it  must  be  that  we  come  under 
a  curse.  Let  there  be  no  light,  and  we  have 
darkness  and  night ;  let  there  be  no  heat,  and 
we  have  cold  and  frost.  Night  and  frost  are 
the  absence  of  light  and  heat ;  and  let  there 
be  no  grace  from  God,  and  we  have  a  har- 
dened heart ;  no  salvation  by  Christ,  and  we 
are  under  wrath  and  curse,  due  to  us  for  sin. 
We  are  blasted  trees  on  the  parched  waste, 
with  a  reckless  mind,  a  seared  conscience,  a 
hardened  heart ;  and  then  only  one  step 
more,  and  %ve  are  lost  souls  I 

THE   BLESSING. 

Now  we  go  to  the  south  side,  from  Ebal  to 
Gerizim.  "  Blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth 
in  the  Lord,  and  whose  hope  the  Lord  is  "  (v. 
7).  For  him,  too,  the  trees  of  the  field  pro- 
vide a  figure.  He  is  like  the  spreading  syca- 
more by  the  river  side,  whose  roots,  while 
under  ground,  as  its  top  above,  drink  in  per- 
ennial supplies,  and  whose  green  leaves  disre- 
gard the  heats  they  intercept.  Israel  found 
this  to  be  trur»  through  all  the  history  of  the 


COMPANION  PICTURES.  197 

people.  Trusting  the  Lord,  Moses  vanquished 
a  proud,  strong  race,  and  gave  liberty  to  a 
nation  of  slaves.  Trusting  in  the  Lord, 
Joshua  swept  the  land  of  Canaan  clear  of  its 
defenders — giants  and  walled  towns  together. 
Trusting  in  the  Lord,  Gideon,  with  lamps 
and  pitchers,  routed  the  myriads  of  Midian- 
ites  ;  and,  in  the  same  confidence,  Deborah 
and  Barak  prevailed  against  Sisera  and  his 
iron  chariots.  These  servants  of  the  Most 
High  were  strong,  brave,  and  victorious, 
while  the  Lord  was  their  hope.  One  chased 
a  thousand,  and  two  put  ten  thousand  to 
flight.  Spears  and  shields,  chariots  and  chiv- 
alry, availed  not  against  men  whose  battle- 
cry  rung  over  the  field — "  The  Lord  of  Hosts 
is  with  us,  the  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge." 
Marching  under  the  unseen,  but  trusted,  guid- 
ance of  the  Captain  of  the  Lord's  hosts,  they 
had  power  to  turn  the  tide  of  battle  and  to 
tread  down  strength.  As,  armed  and  sent 
from  heaven,  they  fought,  the  stars  in  their 
courses  fought  against  their  foes,  and  the  an- 
cient rivers  swept  them  away  (Judges  v.). 
Even   in   later   and    more   degenerate   times. 


108  COMPANION  PICTURES. 

when  Ihe  Maccabees  emblazoned  on  their 
standard  the  inspired  challenge — ''  Who  is  like 
unto  thee,  O  Lord,  among  the  gods,"  and 
flung  it  on  the  breeze,  they  vanquished  ;  and 
during  their  time,  there  flashes  out  awhile 
the  ancient  glory  of  Israel  —  a  fitful  light  be- 
fore it  was  quenched  in  darkness.  Nor  was 
it  only  on  battle-fields  that  God's  blessing 
prospered  the  people  while  they  trusted  Him. 
It  enriched  them  in  the  calm  pursuits  of 
peace.  It  made  silver  like  slate  stones,  and 
cedars  like  sycamore  trees  in  Jerusalem,  in 
the  days  of  David  and  Solomon.  It  covered 
the  Red  Sea  with  fleets,  and  brought  in  the 
gold  of  Ophir.  There  never  was  yet  in  the 
world  a  population  so  happily  situated  as  that 
which  once  covered  the  vales  and  vine-clad 
hills  of  Judah.  Themselves  proprietors  of 
the  fields  they  tilled,  bound  to  the  soil  by  ties 
that  made  them  patriots,  ruled  by  just  and 
equal  laws,  and  taught  by  a  divinely  arranged 
ministry,  they  had  all  the  elements  of  human 
happiness ;  and  they  only  forfeited  these 
when  they  forgot  God,  and  in  their  prosper- 
ity turned  to  idolatry. 


COMPANION  PICTURES.  199 

HOPE   FOR   US. 

But  the  God  of  Israel  is  our  God  ;  and  the 
blessings  He  gave  to  His  chosen  nation  are 
the  signs  and  symbols — the  early  alphabet — 
by  which  the  infant  Church  was  helped  to 
spell  out  the  story  of  His  boundless  goodness. 
That  story  He  is  telling,  and  His  Church  is 
learning,  until  this  day.  To  listen  to  the 
benedictions  of  the  Bible  should  be  pleasant 
employment  for  Christian  ears.  The  first 
Psalm  leads  off  the  harmony — "  Blessed  is 
the  man  that  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of 
the  ungodly,  nor  standeth  in  the  way  of  sin- 
ners, nor  sitteth  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful." 
How  can  he  come  to  this  ?  The  32nd  Psalm 
takes  it  up — "  Blessed  is  the  man  unto  whom 
the  Lord  imputeth  not  iniquity,  and  in  whose 
spirit  there  is  no  guile."  How  can  he  hold 
on  in  this  blessed  estate  ?  how  get  into  this 
exalted  place  ?  Let  the  89th  Psalm  answer — ■ 
"  Blessed  is  the  people  that  know  the  joyful 
sound :  they  shall  walk,  O  Lord,  in  the  light 
of  Thy  countenance.  In  Thy  name  shall 
they  rejoice  all  the  day ;  and  in  Thy  righte- 


200  COMPANION  PICTURES. 

ousness  shall  they  be  exalted.  ''  Cometh  this 
blessedness  upon  the  circumcision  only?" 
Nay,  upon  all  who  believe,  as  Paul  proves  in 
Rom.  iv.  For  hear  Christ  in  the  opening  of 
the  Gospel  message  on  the  Mount — "  Blessed 
are  the  poor  in  spirit,"  "  the  meek,"  the 
"  mourning,"  the  "  hungry  and  thirsting," 
the  "peace -makers,"  "the  persecuted  for 
righteousness'  sake."  But  what  if  they  be 
afflicted  ?  Why,  they  are  blessed  still.  "  Bless- 
ed is  the  man  whom  Thou  chastenest,  O  Lord, 
and  teachest  him  out  of  Thy  law."  But  what 
if  they  be  tempted?.  No  matter.  "Blessed 
is  the  man  that  endureth  temptation,"  says 
James  (i.  12).  A  crown  glitters  before  the 
eye  of  his  faith,  as  he  comes  up  out  of  the 
furnace — a  crown  of  life  which  the  Lord  hath 
promised  to  them  that  love  Him.  But,  he 
owes  obedience?  Well,  to  a  loving  heart, 
this  is  not  irksome.  "  Blessed  are  they  who 
do  His  commandments,"  says  Christ  by  the 
loving  John  (Rev.  xxii.  14),  "  that  they  may 
have  right  to  the  tree  of  life."  Breaking 
them  in  unbelief  shut  man  out  from  the  tree 
of  life.     Keeping  them  in  faith  is  the  charac- 


COMPANION  PICTURES.  201 

teristic  of  them  who  shall  enter  in  and  eat  of 
it      But  they  must  die  ?     True  ;  but  even  this 
is    no   interruption  to   the   flow  of  blessmg. 
-And   I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven,  saymg, 
Write,  blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the 
Lord."     It  has  been  said  that  the  voices  of 
nearly  all  the  lower  creatures,  like  the  cries 
of  human   distress,   are    in    the    melancholy 
minor  key,  for  "  creation  groaneth  and  trav- 
aileth  in  pain  together  until  now;"  but  as- 
suredly there  is  a  joyous  melody  ever  rmgmg 
through  the  new  creation,  the  early  notes  of 
which  are  struck  here  below,  but  the  whole 
of  which  shall  be  played  out  in  the  new  heav- 
ens and  the   new  earth.     "Blessed  are  they 
that  dwell  in  Thy  house;  they  will  be  still 
praising  Thee."     "  Blessings  abound  where'er 
He  reigns."      Thus  it  is  that  blessings   fol- 
low   the   people   of  Christ,  from   pardon   to 
peace,  from  peace  to  holiness,  from  holiness 
to  heaven.     They  are  blessed  in  His  house 
and  in  their  own-blessed  in  justification  and 
blessed  in  sanctification-blessed  in  chasten- 
ino-   and   in  temptation— blessed  in   dying- 
blessed  for  evermore.     Now,  dear  reader,  do 
9* 


202  COMPANION  PICTURES. 

you  wish  for  this  blessedness  ?  Well,  the  way 
to  it  is  here,  in  the  Old  Testament  as  in  the 
New — "  Blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  "  in 
God,  who  is  coming  close  up  to  you  in  Christ, 
and  offering  you  life  in  Him  ;  and,  if  you  ac- 
cept him,  you  trust  God  and  are  blessed.  If 
you  reject  Him,  you  distrust  God  and  are  ac- 
cursed. Accepting  Him  \s  faith,  and,  by  that 
one  single  agent,  God  works  all  Christian 
work  in  us.  I  could  take  you  to  a  large  fac- 
tory in  which  various  operations  are  carried 
on.  The  whole  is  wrought  by  a  stream  of 
water.  But  a  stream  of  water  cannot  spin, 
or  weave,  or  cut,  or  smoothe,  or  press.  No  ; 
but  it  can  turn  one  large  wheel,  and  that 
wheel,  connected  by  joints  and  bands  with  a 
hundred  mighty  hands  and  a  thousand  iron  fin- 
gers, keeps  them  all  in  motion  and  all  at  work. 
The  wheel  is  doing  all  within,  but  the  wheel 
is  only  an  instrument  moved  by  power  with- 
out. Stop  it,  and  you  stop  all.  Now,  so  it  is 
with  faith.  God  brings  the  power  from  with- 
out to  bear  on  the  soul,  and  the  soul  believes 
— has  faith.  And  now  the  soul  is  sorrowing 
for  sin,  because  it  sees  God's  holiness  in  the 


COMPANION  PICTURES.  203 

cross  •  now  it  is  loving  because  it  believes 
God's  love  ;  now  it  is  forgiving,  because  it 
believes  God  forgave ;  now  it  is  pitying,  be- 
cause it  believes  in  the  awful  future  ;  now  it 
is  working,  because  it  believes  God  blesses 
honest  work ;  now  it  is  fighting  against  sin, 
because  it  believes  sin  hateful  and  doomed  ; 
and  now  it  is  praying,  because  it  believes 
God's  promises.  Faith  is  doing  all  this,  as  an 
instrument  itself  moved  from  without ;  and 
so  all  the  blessedness  comes  through  the  faith 
or  trusting  of  the  Lord. 

DIFFICULTIES   AND   DANGERS. 

But  you  say,  "  I  would  like  to  do  all  this, 
but  I  cannot:  this  heart  will  not  believe." 
Now,  you  see  the  difficulty  is  not  a  new  or 
unforeseen  one.  God  knows  all  about  it  far 
better  than  you,  yourself  He  says,  *'  the 
heart  is  deceitful,"  and  beyond  the  knowl- 
edge of  any  but  himself.  Some  it  keeps  from 
begging  mercy,  through  pride.  Shall  I  sub- 
mit to  this  humiliation  ?  It  is  said  of  an  Eng- 
lishman of  genius,  that,  a  short  time  before 
his  death,  he  cried — "  Shall  I  sue  for  mercy  ?" 


204  COMPANION  PICTURES. 

and  after  a  long  pause,  "  Come,  come,  no 
weakness ;  let 's  be  a  man  to  the  last !"  Others 
it  persuades  to  dismiss  the  subject  altogether 
from  their  thoughts  ;  others,  that  mercy  may 
be  had  in  some  such  way  that  their  dignity 
shall  be  saved  and  their  heart  kept  whole, 
forgetting  that  no  sinner  ever  had  the  benefit 
of  Christ's  sacrifice  who  was  not  brought  to 
render  to  God,  in  turn,  the  sacrifice  of  a 
broken  heart  and  a  contrite  spirit.  Fancy 
such  an  one,  misled  by  a  deceived  heart,  this 
hour  reposing  in  thought  upon  some  favorite 
plan,  his  eye  resting,  perhaps,  on  his  pros- 
perous family,  or  his  thriving  mart,  or  his  com- 
fortable home.  He  has  enough.  "  Soul,  take 
thine  ease,"  he  is  secretly  saying ;  and  the 
next  conscious  look  he  gives  is  at  the  Judge's 
face !  The  next  conscious  thought  is,  "  I  am 
at  the  bar  of  my  Maker  unprepared  !"  Oh  ! 
pity  him,  as  the  waste  of  time  lies  behind  and 
the  darker  waste  of  eternity  before ;  none 
to  speak  for  him,  none  to  speak  to  him,  none 
to  keep  him  in  countenance.  There,  in  front 
of  him  is  God  !  He  is  very  different  from  what 
he   thought  Him.     All  is   different ;  time   is 


COMPANION  PICTURES.  205 

different ;  he  himself  is  different.  The  life  he 
thought  so  laudable  is  one  mass  of  ungodli- 
ness—  not  stained  with  sin,  for  it  is  all  sin, 
all  godlessness.  Oh  !  pity  him,  as  his  venge- 
ful conscience  now  mounts  the  throne  from 
which  he  thrust  it,  and  anticipates  the  sen- 
tence from  the  judgment-seat!  Yet,  let  me 
not  draw  out  your  pity  only  where  must  be 
blame.  The  heart  is  deceitful  because  it  hates 
God.  You  are,  you  say,  anxious  to  be  His, 
and  have  His  blessedness.  The  deceitful 
heart  is  the  barrier  in  the  way.  Then  in 
Jer.  17  :  14  is  the  course  for  you — "  Heal  me, 
O  Lord,  and  I  shall  be  healed  ;  save  me,  and  I 
shall  be  saved."  You  wish  to  be  saved  from 
the  C2irse,  but  your  heart  rebels.  Why,  it  is 
part  of  your  curse.  God  would  have  you 
come  and  ask  deliverance  from  it.  You  would 
be  free  from  your  guilt,  but  your  heart  will 
not  submit.  Why,  its  rebellion  is  part  of 
your  guilt.  God  would  have  you  go  to  Him 
with  it,  and  cry  as  in  this  passage.  Fancy  a 
man  with  general  paralysis  of  his  body :  his 
speech  is  gone.  He  cannot  even  tell  the 
symptoms  of  his  case   to   the   doctor.     Shall 


2o6  COMPANION  PICTURES. 

he,  therefore,  do  nothing?  Why,  the  very 
speechlessness  is  a  part  of  his  disease,  and  re- 
quires treatment.  Let  him,  as  lie  best  can, 
show  his  helpless  condition  and  be  healed,  if 
medical  skill  can  do  it.  And  so  it  is  here. 
The  heart  is  deceitful,  and  will  not  believe,  or 
love,  or  pray.  Why,  that  is  the  very  centre 
of  the  evil.  Go,  and  as  you  best  can,  looking 
to  God's  way  of  healing,  cry  to  Him,  and 
cease  not  to  cry  until  you  are  healed.  Is 
your  soul  not  worth  it?  Why,  I  know  pa- 
tients who  have  gone  on  trying  for  years  and 
years  in  the  hope  of  getting  bodily  health  ; 
and  I  am  afraid  I  know  sinners  who,  if  they 
put  their  history  in  a  sentence,  might  say — 
"  Once,  I  did  think  about  life,  and  prayed  and 
read  a  little,  but  I  saw  nothing  come  of  it,  so 
now  I  just  go  on  like  the  rest."  I  tell  you,  O 
sinners !  no  human  soul  ever  waited  on  God 
with  its  maladies,  really  willing  to  be  cured, 
without  being  cured.  Men,  lifted  up  to  heav- 
en in  privileges  and  in  pride,  have  gone  down 
to  hell ;  but  none,  bowed  down  to  the  dust 
before  the  cross,  ever  failed  to  be  lifted  up  to 
heaven.     So  I  tell  the  Gospel  to  you.     Oh, 


COMPANION  PICTURES.  207 

embrace  it,  ye  grey-haired  ones !  whose  day 
of  life  is  in  the  afternoon.  The  night  cometh 
fast — faster  every  year.  Oh,  embrace  it,  ye 
hard  -  working,  care  -  worn  men  and  women, 
and  ye  busy,  hopeful  young  men  and  maid- 
ens !  It  is  the  very  thing  for  you — for  all. 
"  You  cannot,"  says  an  old  writer,  "  churn 
happiness  out  of  a  chest  of  gold  ;  it  will  never 
come.  You  cannot  make  unfading  crowns  of 
fading  flowers."  And  you,  little  ones,  boys 
and  girls !  God  wishes  you  to  be  saved.  Do 
not  think  He  takes  no  notice  of  you.  He 
does,  or  He  would  not  put  in  the  description 
of  restored  Jerusalem  that  "  the  streets  of 
the  city  shall  be  full  of  boys  and  girls  playing 
in  it"  (Zech.  viii.  5).  Do  you  know  the  only 
thing  with  which  Jesus,  on  earth,  was  "  much 
displeased?"  It  was,  according  to  Mark, 
when  they  brought  young  children  to  Him 
that  He  might  put  His  hands  on  them,  and 
the  disciples  rebuked  them.  And  Jesus,  when 
He  saw  it,  was  tmicJi  displeased,  and  said, 
"  Suffer  the  little  children."  "  Oh,  mamma  !' 
said  a  little  girl,  on  returning  from  church  to 
a  sick  mother,  "  I  have  heard  the  child's  Gos- 


208  COMPANION  PICTURES. 

pel  to-day."     Now,  here  is  the  child's  Gospel 
for  you. 

And  now,  believers  !  I  have  not  time  left  to 
tell  you  all  I  should  like.  "  Only  let  your 
conversation  be  as  it  becometh  the  Gospel." 
You  know  how  our  forefathers  used  to  set  up 
stone  crosses  in  the  market-places.  It  was  a 
good  idea,  superstitiously  as  it  was  wrought 
out.  We  should  do  our  business  as  in  view 
of  a  dying,  risen  Redeemer.  The  Jewish 
tribes  were  so  encamped  that  all  could  see  the 
tabernacle  in  the  centre.  Let  us  always  have 
it,  as  on  that  sad  day,  that  day  of  wonders — 
"  Jesus  in  the  midst."  Even  from  heathens 
we  rnay  learn.  The  Chinese  bring  their  idols 
into  their  shops,  that  they  may  buy  and  sell, 
and  get  gain  in  their  presence.  Let  us  love, 
and  live,  and  labor,  as  under  God's  eye  al- 
ways.    Amen. 


WHY   ARE   THERE   SO   FEW   CON- 
VERSIONS? 


E  do  not  take  into  account  the  in- 
inscrutable  will  of  God,  His  reveal- 
ed will,  and  not  His  decrees,  being 
the  rule  of  our  life.  We  inquire 
humbly  and  cautiously  into  those  reasons  that 
appear  to  lie  within  man's  own  province.  If 
the  question  were  raised,  Why  are  not  more 
persons  educated  ?  it  might  be  replied.  Some 
have  no  teachers ;  some,  no  time ;  some,  no 
wish,  and  some  no  capacity.  These  are  prox- 
imate reasons  independent  of  any  sover- 
eign and  unknown  appointment  of  the  Great 
Ruler.  They  are  such  reasons  as  man  has  to 
do  with.  The  corresponding  reasons — within 
man's  province — are  the  subject  of  this  in- 
quiry— Why  are  few  converted? 

(209) 


210  WHY  SO  FEW  CONVERSIONS? 

1.  Some  do  not  think  conversion  necessary. 
They  either  count  themselves  engrafted  into 
Christ  in  some  other  way  than  by  a  conscious 
turning  to  the  Saviour,  or  they  consider  all 
the  ends  and  value  of  conversion  attained  in 
a  gradual  growth  in  religious  life.  We  speak 
now  of  those  who  do  think  of  such  themes — 
not  of  the  large  class  who  will  "  not  consider." 
Not  expecting  conversion,  they  do  not,  as  a 
rule,  experience  it.  Nor  do  we  take  into  ac- 
count those  who  are  truly  godly  without  hav- 
ing consciously  passed  through  a  definite 
process  of  change  ;  who  in  fact  are  converted 
people,  though  from  the  want  of  this  definite- 
ness  as  to  the  beginning  of  their  spiritual  life, 
they  attract  less  notice ;  and  of  whom,  we 
trust,  there  are  some  in  all  ordinary  Christian 
flocks.  We  speak  of  those  who,  in  ignorance 
or  pride,  expect  no  conversion. 

2.  Many  do  not  knozv  the  %vay  of  life — and 
this  though  hearing  it  weekly  for  years.  The 
ignorance  on  this  point  among  regular  hear- 
ers is  incredible  to  any  but  close-dealing  min- 
isters, and  inexplicable  on  any  principle  but 
that  "  the  god  of  this  world  blinds  the  minds 


WHY  so  FEW  CONVERSIONS?  211 

of  men."  They  have  a  power  of  keeping 
themselves  in  ignorance  on  this  subject  they 
could  not  exercise  on  any  other.  I  have  met 
with  educated,  moral,  and  steady  hearers  of 
the  Gospel  faithfully  preached,  who  held  sal- 
vation by  works,  unconscious  of  its  being  any- 
thins:  different  from  their  ministers'  instruc- 
tions,  and  whose  hope  was  expressed  in  these 
very  words,  "  I  have  led  a  fair  life  on  the 
whole."  I  have  listened  to  this  from  persons 
who  must  have  heard  this  very  error  de- 
nounced in  set  terms  a  hundred  times. 

3.  Some  ministers,  right  in  the  main,  do  not 
clearly  preach  the  truth.  They  sometimes 
qualify  it.  They  sometimes  cloud  it.  They 
sometimes  add  to  it.  They  sometimes  mis- 
place its  portions,  preaching  human  deadness 
to  inquirers,  and  holding  out  promises  to 
those  who  think  they  have  quite  enough. 
Sometimes  they  set  forth  Christ  as  the  only 
Saviour,  and  then  begin  to  talk  about  means 
of  grace  in  such  a  way  as  to  mix  up  in  the 
hearer's  notions  the  use  of  the  means  and  the 
work  of  Jesus  as  combined  in  the  business  of 
saving ;  the  result  of  which  is  that  men  go  on 


212  IVJ/y  so  FEW  CONVERSIONS? 

in  the  use  of  the  means,  and  do  not  face  the 
question,  Am  I  saved  ? 

4.  Some  preachers  Hve  in  such  a  way  that 
no  moral,  not  to  say  spiritual,  power  attends 
their  words.  Gentle  hearers  say  or  think, 
"  he  is  not  a  nice  man."  Ungentle  hearers 
say,  "  he  is  not  what  a  minister  should  be." 
The  vanity,  or  the  worldliness,  or  the  selfish- 
ness, or  the  laziness,  or  the  self-indulgences 
of  a  minister,  as  far  as  they  are  known,  de- 
stroy his  power  to  do  good.  The  best  of  us 
are  far  from  what  we  should  be  ;  but  a  plainly 
inconsistent  man  is  not  a  sharp  sword  in 
Christ's  hand,  v/hile  "a  holy  ministry  is  an 
awful  weapon  in  that  mighty  hand."  An 
evidently  worthless  minister  not  only  does 
no  good  himself — he  hinders  others  around 
him.  If  he  be  settled,  he  is  worse  than  a 
plague  which  kills  its  quota  and  is  gone,  for 
he  is  a  stationary  curse  in  spiritual  and  eter- 
nal things.  If  he  move  about,  he  is  like  one 
who  carries  with  him  the  worst  conceivable 
infection. 

5.  The  deadness  of  professors  hinders  con- 
versions.    They  are  not  visibly  different  from 


WHY  so  FEW  CONVERSIONS?  21:, 

the  unconverted.  Persons  of  integrity  and 
spirit  are  conscious  of  being,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  as  good  as  the  so-called  converted. 
They  say,  "Become  religious  —  where 's  the 
use  ?  To  be  only  like  them  !  I  can  be  as  good 
and  make  no  work  about  it."  That  visible 
holiness  of  saints  that  would  stop  the  mouths 
of  such  is  too  rare.  Gradually  the  children 
of  inconsistent  parents,  the  pupils  of  incon- 
sistent Sabbath-school  teachers,  the  servants 
of  inconsistent  masters,  and  the  associates  of 
inconsistent  friends  grow  out  of  the  belief  in 
the  reality  of  religion,  and  the  deepest  feeling 
produced  by  the  most  pungent  and  powerful 
appeal  from  a  minister  will  be,  "  He  is  an  able 
man." 

6.  Bitter  struggling  for  the  means  of  life 
hinders  conversions.  A  poor,  crushed,  wretch- 
ed people,  shivering  always  on  the  brink  of 
starvation,  embittered  in  soul,  and  made  sav- 
age by  the  constant  cries  of  animal  wants,  are 
m  an  unhopeful  spiritual  condition.  Their 
minds  are  not  only  pre-occupied  ;  they  are 
rendered  obtuse  and  animal-like.  They  would 
say  if  they  spoke  out — in  fact,  they  often  do 


214  WHY  so  FEW  CONVERSIONS? 

say — "  Easy  to  talk  of  our  souls — look  at  our 
bodies !"  Physical  destitution  does  in  them 
what  drunkenness  and  indulged  lust  do  in 
their  guiltier  superiors.  They  are  like  the 
Hebrew  brickmakers,  when,  sullen  and  de- 
spairing, "they  hearkened  not  unto  Moses, 
for  anguish  of  spirit  and  for  cruel  bondage." 
All  success,  then,  to  schools,  to  factories,  to  in- 
dustrial enterprizes  !  They  cannot  save  men, 
but  they  help  to  keep  men  accessible  to  the 
saving  truth.  Prosperity  often  destroys  the 
hunger  of  the  soul  by  satiety ;  but  misery 
works  the  same  sad  result,  when  it  benumbs 
and  stupifies. 

7.  But  the  great  crowning  hindrance  to 
conversions  among  us  is  tJie  simple  love  of  sin. 
I  speak  now  of  these  lands  in  which  Christian 
truth  is  commonly  set  forth.  If  a  man  in  ear- 
nest has  an  ignorant  or  worthless  minister,  he 
can  mostly  go  elsewhere.  If  there  be  no  hu- 
man guide  near,  the  Word  is  in  his  hand. 
"  Where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a  way."  But 
there  is  no  will  with  the  majority.  They  do 
not  wish  to  be  converted.  They  cannot  con- 
ceive of  themselves  as  being  happy  without 


WHY  so  FEW  CONVERSIONS?  215 

their  sin.  They  want  immediate  enjoyment. 
They  must  have  it.  Conversion  would  clash 
with  that.  Therefore  no  conversion !  That 
is  the  simple  truth.  That  they  must  die, 
have  a  soul  in  danger,  are  doing-  wrong, 
ought  to  be  better — they  will  for  the  most 
part  admit  all  this  and  far  more,  but  they 
mean  to  get  present  satisfaction  and  happiness 
in  sin.  Conversion,  or  becoming  religious, 
would  prevent  that,  so  they  will  not  be  con- 
verted. They  choose  sin  for  their  present 
good.  The  young  man  who  does  not  wish 
to  be  known  to  any  minister,  the  business 
man  who  does  not  wish  to  have  a  clergyman 
"  running  after  him,"  desired  to  be  let  alone 
in  their  own  away  of  getting  happiness.  To 
talk  of  them  as  "  poor  sinners,"  as  if  some  un- 
happy fatality  outside  themselves  kept  them  in 
misery,  is  sheer  nonsense,  or  empty  and  false 
sentiment.  They  should  be  told  that  it  is  their 
own  deliberate  choice  not  to  be  converted. 
God  calls  and  they  refuse.  They  prefer  the 
pleasures  of  sin  to  the  service  of  God.  Thou- 
sands intellectually  believe  the  history  of  the 
Redeemer,  and  mean  to  be  converted  when 


2i6  WHY  so  FEW  CONVERSIONS? 

nothing  else  would  be  safe.  And  we  fear  the 
proportion  of  these  dehberate  despisers  of 
life  and  peace — so  set  against  God  that  what 
He  hates  they  love,  what  He  cannot  look 
upon,  they  cannot  do  without — who  are  saved 
at  last,  is  small.  Considering  what  the  hu- 
man mind  is,  v/hat  the  Gospel  is,  what  God 
is,  what  conscience  is,  what  evil  is,  and  how, 
in  the  operations  of  His  grace,  God  respects 
the  laws  impressed  on  human  spirits  by  Him- 
self, we  tremble  to  think  of  the  future  of  those 
who,  in  the  light  love  the  darkness.  Oh, 
reader!  if  the  love  of  sin  is  keeping  you  from 
being  converted — if  you  are  unable  to  think 
how  you  would  ever  be  happy  without  your 
sinful  thoughts  and  ways — ^you  are  on  the 
edge  of  a  deep  pit,  and  may  fall  in  any  mo- 
ment !  Cry  to  God  to  save  you.  Flee  to 
Christ  at  once.  He  alone  can  help  you.  Re- 
main as  you  are,  and  your  feet  shall  slide  in 
due  time.  The  Lord,  who  made  your  spirit 
and  calls  you  to  Him  that  He  may  save  you, 
can  surely  make  you  as  happy  in  holiness  as 
you  try  to  be  in  sin.  He  makes  the  holy  an- 
gels happy.     Go  to  Him  in  Jesus  Christ  and. 


WlfV  so  FEW  CONVERSIONS?  217 

confessing  the  evil  of  your  heart  and  hfe, 
throw  yourself  on  His  mercy.  He  will  not 
cast  you  out.  Refuse  this  and  I  tremble  as  I 
forecast  your  future.  "  I  vv^ould  be  religious," 
said  a  lady,  "  but  for  one  thing,  religion  for- 
bids cards."  "  And  cannot  you  do  without 
cards?"  said  the  clergyman.  "No,  I  could 
not  be  happy  without  them."  "  Then,  Mad- 
am," replied  he,  ''  cards  are  your  god,  and 
they  must  save  you."  Oh  sinner !  you  love 
sin  more  than  God.  It  is  your  portion,  your 
god.  Shall  He  say  of  you,  "  He  is  joined  to 
his  idols:  let  him  alone?" 


A  CALL  TO   THE  CARELESS. 


OD  HAS  VARIOUS  WAYS  OF  AROUS- 
ING MEN.  To  arrest  the  Apostle 
Paul  the  Lord  Jesus  revealed  Him- 
self in  glory  and  majesty,  showed 
He  was  the  Messiah,  identified  His  people 
with  Himself,  and  made  Paul  His  willing 
servant.  The  heart  of  Lydia  was  opened,  as 
the  light  of  morning  falling  on  the  sleepless 
eyelids,  opens  them.  When  the  Apostle  was 
on  his  voyage  to  Rome,  through  perils,  and 
prophecies,  and  shipwreck  the  souls  of  all 
were  brought  to  the  truth  ;  and  the  jailor  at 
Philippi,  in  breathless  terror  and  through 
frantic  despair,  that  had  all  but  made  him  a 
suicide,  was  brought  to  Christ  and  peace  in 

Him.     Long  training  and  patient  instruction 
(218) 


A  CALL  TO  THE  CARELESS.  219 

were  expended  on  some  of  the  disciples, 
while  a  word  from  Christ,  even  as  he  hung 
on  the  cross,  went  right  to  the  heart  of  the 
dying  thief  and  transformed  him  into  a  Chris- 
tian. On  some  the  Lord  gently  lays  His 
hand,  as  when  a  mother  kisses  her  babe  out 
of  sleep.  To  some  He  comes  in  the  tempest 
and  the  thunder.  Sometimes  a  long  process 
goes  on  as  in  the  opening  of  the  buds  of 
spring ;  with  some  there  is  the  loud  and  ter- 
rific shock,  and,  as  when  after  long  mining, 
the  rock  flies  open  in  the  explosion,  so  the 
stony  heart  is  reft  asunder  that  the  King  of 
Glory  may  come  in.  A  fashionable  sinner  is 
recorded  to  have  been  awakened  by  seeing 
the  word  "  Eternity"  at  the  head  of  a  tract. 
The  man  may  be  named  who  sat  in  the 
theatre,  and,  as  if  a  thunderbolt  had  lighted 
on  him,  the  thought  came — "  In  what  a  place 
I  am — what  a  life  I  am  leading — whither  am 
I  going  ?"  and  he  rushed  from  the  place  to 
pray.  As  the  conviction  came  to  the  Treas- 
urer of  Can  dace,  while  he  read  the  roll  of  the 
prophet  Isaiah,  so  it  comes  to  men  as  they 
poruse  their  Bibles ;  and  as  the  thousands  at 


220  A  CALL  TO  THE  CARELESS. 

Pentecost  were  smitten  under  Peter's  preach- 
ing, so  multitudes,  under  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  are  brought  to  feel  themselves 
sinners.  It  were  wrong  to  prescribe  the  way 
in  which  the  Lord  should  come  to  us.  It 
were  wrong  to  take  up  from  the  biography 
of  men,  from  preconceived  ideas,  from  tradi- 
tion, or  from  common  talk,  any  particular 
manner  in  which  we  would  have  the  Lord  to 
awaken  us.  The  great  thing  to  be  concerned 
about  is,  that  we  are  azuakened.  Perhaps,  as 
those  of  us  who  have  hope  look  back,  we  can 
point  to  various  agencies  that  led  us  to  think. 
With  some  it  was  the  entreaty  or  the  teach- 
ing of  parents,  or  the  prayer  we  heard  them 
offer  for  us — with  some  it  was  the  faithful  and 
affectionate  dealings  of  ministers — with  some 
it  was  the  death  of  relatives  or  friends — with 
some  it  was  the  report  of  what  the  Lord  had 
done  in  converting  others  —  and  with  some 
the  Spirit  of  God  wrought,  we  know  not  how, 
till  the  happy  result  made  it  manifest.  The 
great  thing,  dear  reader,  is  to  be  awakened 
in  any  way  God  pleases.  Oh  !  careless  souls  ! 
let  us  use  means  once  again  with  you.    Let  me 


A  CALL  TO  THE  CARELESS.  22 1 

cry  unto  you  in  Christ's  name  once  again. 
Christless  souls  !  there  are  two  things  about 
you,  which  it  is  your  interest  to  know ; 

I.  YoH  arc  zvrong.  You  do  not  indeed  now 
feel  yourself  to  be  in  rebellion  against  God. 
A  ship's  crew  mutiny,  and  throw  the  captain 
overboard ;  but  they  must,  for  mutual  safety,  ■ 
have  some  commander,  so  they  choose  one, 
and  all  goes  on  well  thenceforward.  Every 
sailor  does  his  duty.  But  they  are  mutineers 
for  all  that,  and  when  the  deed  is  known  they 
will  be  tried  for  their  lives,  as  surely  as  they 
come  to  land.  All  the  obedience  and  subordi- 
nation of  the  rest  of  the  voyage  will  not 
cancel  the  crime  of  mutiny  and  murder. 
They  may  regulate  sail  and  helm,  and  keep 
watch  and  guard,  as  promptly  as  the  most 
loyal  sailors  afloat,  but  all  they  do  they  do  in 
the  character  of  mutineers.  A*-  ^  just  so,  sin- 
ners, you  may  be  good  citizens  and  subjects, 
but  you  are  doing  all  in  the  character  of 
rebels  against  God,  aliens  from  Him,  despisers 
of  his  Son  and  of  Himself,  and  as  surely  as 
you  come  to  meet  Him  you  must  be  put  upon 
your   trial !      Oh !    unawakened    souls,    that 


222  A  CALL   TO  THE  CARELESS. 

you  knew  this  !  You  would  not  surely  go 
on  as  you  do.  You  would  not  surely  neglect 
your  Bibles  and  refuse  to  pray,  and  despise 
the  one  only  way  of  deliverance. 

2.  You  are  wretched.  It  does  not  matter 
that  you  do  not  feel  it.  When  3^ou  see  the  poor 
drunkard  tottering  along  the  street,  uncon- 
scious of  his  shame,  talking  his  drivelling 
talk,  smiling  his  foolish  smile,  you  cannot  but 
say  "  Poor  wretch  !"  When  you  enter  the 
asylum  and  see  the  group  of  your  fellow- 
creatures  intently  busy  about  some  trifle,  or 
hear  them  utter  their  incoherent  talk,  all  un- 
conscious of  their  pitiable  situation,  you  pity 
them  all  the  more  from  their  ignorance  of 
their  state,  and  mingling  with  your  pity  for 
them  is  your  gratitude  that  you  have  reason 
still.  When  you  walk  the  streets  at  night, 
and  the  painted  priestesses  of  vice  flaunt  past 
you  in  real  or  affected  gaiety,  their  seeming 
ignorance  of  their  condition  does  not  prevent 
you,  as  you  think  whence  they  came  and 
whither  they  are  going,  from  saying,  "  God 
help  them,  poor  wretches  !"  And,  oh  !  sin- 
ner, it   is   so    with   you.      You   are  tvretched. 


A  CALL  TO  THE  CARELESS.  223 

though  you  know  it  not,  all  the  more  because 
you   don't  know   it.      Samson   slept   on   the 
knees  of  Delilah,  and  she  took  off  his  hair- 
the  seat  of  his  mysterious  strength  — and  ex- 
perimented on  him  to  be  sure  it  had  departed 
from  him,  and  he  went  out  and  wist  not  that 
the  Lord  had  departed  from  him.     So  it  is 
with   you.      Oh !   that  you  would   come    to 
know  this  in  time.     You  will  be  awakened 
some  time,  but  then  it  may  be  too  late.     "  It 
is  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep."      God 
may  be  caUing  to  you  this  day  for  the  last 
time,   and   though   you   see   no   angels   with 
averted  looks  departing,  and  hear  no  sound 
of  the   approaching  thunder  of   His  wrath, 
and   behold    no   hand   writing   on   the   wall, 
"  Mene-tekel,"  yet  all  this  may  be  really  the 
case  with  you.     A  time  comes  to  every  god- 
less man  when  the  last  offer  is  made  — and 
then  the  book  of  promises  is  closed  for  ever 
^when  the  Spirit  pleads  for  the  last  time  and 
the  voice  of  persuasion  and  entreaty  is  heard 
no  more.    Oh!  sinner!  you  need  to  be  plainly 
spoken  to.    Lot  lingered  when  the  fiery  storm 
was  just  about  to  fall  on  guilty  Sodom,  and 


224  A  CALL  TO  TILE  CARELESS. 

you  are  lingering  in  the  same  way  while 
justice  is  pursuing  you.  Oh  !  flee  to  the  city 
of  refuge.  Like  Paul  and  Silas,  there  are 
thousands  of  glad  hearts  to-day  praising  God 
in  the  joyousness  of  the  ransomed  ones — and 
like  Paul  and  Silas  praying  —  a)',  even  for 
you ;  the  Spirit  of  God  is  moving  among 
men,  and  prison  doors  are  flying  open  and 
chains  falling  off.  God  is  shaking  the  prison, 
and  you,  like  the  keeper,  are  like  to  destroy 
ourselves.  Oh !  sinners,  "  Do  yourselves  no 
harm ;"  come  like  the  jailor,  and  put,  as  he 
did,  the  question,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be 
saved  ?" 


LIFE  IN  CHRIST. 


HE  biographer  of  Fox  tells  us  how 
that  gifted  man  used  to  fling  out 
his  arms,  expand  his  broad  chest,  in- 
hale the  air  of  spring,  and,  in  intense 
enjoyment  of  existence,  exclaim  :  "  What  a 
glorious  thing  is  Hfe ! "  And  so  truly  it  is, 
even  in  the  lowest  sense  in  which  we  use  the 
word.  What  a  glorious  thing  is  vegetable  life ! 
Look  at  bursting  buds  and  opening  flowers, 
at  gi'owing  grass  and  springing  corn,  at  tow- 
ering fir-tree  or  spreading  beech — and  what 
a  mysterious,  beautiful,  glorious  thing  is  Hfe 
in  all  these,  expanding  from  the  seed,  each 
after  its  kind,  according  to  laws  that  have 
held  good  since  "  God  planted  a  garden,  East- 
ward, in  Eden."      And  none  can  look  upon 

lO?^  ("5) 


226  LIFE  IN  CHRIST. 

the  winged  fowl,  the  prancing  steed,  or  the 
vigorous  man,  without  seeing  what  a  giand 
thing  is  animal  life.  How  much  more  glo- 
rious is  intellectual  life,  with  its  memory- 
making  the  past  present,  its  judgment  weigh- 
ing all  things,  and  its  fancy  anticipating  the 
future,  and  bringing  the  distant  near !  But 
rising  in  dignity  and  greatness  far  above 
these  is  spiritual  life,  the  life  that  Adam  had 
in  Paradise,  in  common  with  the  angels  of 
God,  when  his  holy  soul  held  converse,  with- 
out terror,  or  shame,  or  embarrassment,  with 
the  Infinite  Creator,  where  there  was  no  gulf 
between  the  Divine  and  the  human,  but  that 
necessarily  between  the  former  and  the  thing 
formed  —  when  God  talked  with  Adam  and 
Adam  walked  with  God.  This  was  truly 
dignified  life  —  only  wanting  perpetuity  to  be 
stamped  upon  it  to  convert  it  into  life  eter- 
nal. Now  he  that  hath  the  Son  hath  spiritual 
life,  and  that  life  shall  be  eternally  prolonged, 
so  that  he  that  hath  the  Son  hath  eternal  life. 
For  the  Bible  is  a  circle,  in  describing  which 
the  Divine  hand  begins  in  Paradise  and  ends 
there.    In  Genesis  God  dwells  with  men,  and 


LIFE  IN  CHRIST.  227 

He  does  so  in  Revelation.  In  Genesis  man 
is  in  Eden,  with  the  river  that  watered  the 
garden,  and  the  trees  yielding  their  pleasant 
fruits,  and  in  Revelation  man  is  in  the  garden 
of  God  once  more,  with  this  advantage,  that 
no  serpent  is  there  to  beguile,  and  no  forbid- 
den fruit  to  allure. 

Then  the  practical  question  for  all  is, 
"How  is  this  life  to  be  had?"  In  John  i.  4, 
we  read  of  Jesus  —  the  Word,  "In  Him  was 
life,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men."  As 
men  may  know  what  is  hidden  in  our  hearts 
by  our  speech  —  as  our  audible  v/ords  reveal 
the  invisible  and  the  secret  within  us  —  so 
Christ,  the  INIediator,  reveals  the  imknown 
and  hidden  things  of  the  invisible  God,  Now, 
in  this  Revealer  of  God,  in  Christ,  the  Media- 
tor, says  John,  "  was  life,  and  the  life  was  the 
light  of  men."  It  is  not  as  the  Creator,  nor 
as  the  second  person  of  the  Godhead,  but  as 
Mediator,  He  has  this  life.  It  is  in  the  same 
character  in  which  He  says  Himself,  John 
xiv.  6,  "  I  am  the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the 
life,  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by 
Me."     This  last  clause  defines  the  character 


228  LIFE  IN  CHRIST. 

in  which  Christ  speaks  —  the  only  Mediator. 
Whosoever  comes  not  by  Him,  stops  short 
of  access  to  the  Father.  Whosoever  is  not  in 
Him  as  the  way,  is  out  of  the  way  and  lost; 
whosoever  is  not  in  Him  as  the  truth  is  in 
fatal  error;  whosoever  is  not  in  Him  as  the 
life  is  dead  in  sins.  And  proving  that  his 
mediatorial  character  is  here  presented,  we 
read  in  John  v.  26,  "  For  as  the  Father  hath 
life  in  Himself;  so  hath  He  given  to  the  Son 
to  have  life  in  Himself."  Now,  it  is  only  as 
Mediator  that  the  Son  has  anything  given  to 
Him.  To  have  the  Son,  then,  is  to  be  in  con- 
nection with  Him  as  Mediator.  Thus  only  is 
life  to  be  had.  Here,  then,  is  an  irresistible 
plea  for  Evangelical  preaching  —  that  only  by 
the  mediation  of  Christ  is  there  life.  There 
may  be  the  most  clear-sighted  theism.  Rising 
through  -nature  up  to  nature's  God,  a  man 
may  have  the  loftiest  and  justest  ideas  of  the 
wisdom,  power,  and  Godhead  of  the  great 
First  cause,  but  if  he  have  not  the  Son  he  has 
not  life.  His  telescope  may  sweep  the  heav- 
ens, and  to  his  look  the  record  of  Divine 
creating  power  may  be  very  legible ;  and  in 


LIFE  IN  CHRIST.  229 

his  iear  Arcturus  and  Pleiades  and  Orion  may 
"  their  great  original  proclaim,"  but  if  he 
have  not  the  Son  he  has  not  the  life.  Or  his 
eye,  fitted  with  the  microscope,  may  chase 
the  movements  of  countless  creatures  in  the 
drop  of  water,  and  see  the  resistless  evidences 
of  design  and  power;  or  turning  from  this 
liquid  globe,  he  may  expatiate  over  the  world, 
feel  ''a  pleasure  in  the  pathless  woods,"  and 
"  a  rapture  on  the  lonely  shore ; "  he  may 
play  with  the  ocean  when,  like  an  angry  war- 
horse,  it  chafes  and  stamps  upon  the  sand ; 
and  he  may  lay  his  hand  upon  its  mane ;  he 
may  cry  out  in  delighted   wonder  — 

"  Thou  glorious  mirror,  where  the  Almighty's  form 
Glasses  itself  in  tempests  ;" 

but,  with  all  this  precious  knowledge  —  all 
this  lofty  teaching  of  natural  theology  —  if  he 
have  not  the  Son,  he  has  not  life.  The  sentence 
of  death  is  still  over  him  ;  the  power  of  sin 
is  still  ruling  within  him ;  and  he  is  on  the 
other  side  of  a  great  gulf  fixed  between  God 
and  him,  over  which  he  has  no  desire  to  pass. 
Then,  how  is  a  man  to  have  the  Son  ?     Let 


230  LIFE  IN  CHRIST. 

anything  be  offered  me  and  accepted  by  me, 
and  it  is  mine.  I  have  it.  Let  Christ  be 
offered  me  and  received  by  me,  and  I  have 
Him.  This  acceptance  of  Him  is  faith,  ac- 
cording to  I  John  i.  12,  "As  many  as  received 
Him,  to  them  gave  He  power  to  become  the 
sons  of  God."  He  that  beheves  on  the  Son 
has  all  the  elements  of  life  within  him.  This  is 
reasonable.  For  God  made  man  for  his  eter- 
nal favor,  and  only  sin  disturbs  the  arrange- 
ment ;  but  he  who  believes  has  this  disturbing 
element  removed.  God  made  man  for  Him- 
self, and  only  sin  separated  man  from  God ; 
but  when  Christ  is  believed  in,  the  sin  is  put 
away  —  the  barrier  exists  no  more.  Guilt  on 
man,  sin  in  man,  and  the  consequent  unwil- 
lingness to  come  to  God — this  threefold  cord 
bound  man  in  his  dead  condition,  and  hard  as 
it  was  to  be  broken,  it  is  broken,  when  the 
guilt  is  transferred  to  Christ,  when  sin  in  us 
is  condemned  and  crucified,  and  when,  by 
the  drawing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  come  to 
God  through  Christ.  The  burden  is  off,  and 
the  enmity  is  slain,  and  the  quarrel  is  con- 
cluded, and  the  living  soul  is  back  again  in 


LIFE  IN  CHRIST.  231 

the  place  where  God  put  it  at  the  first.     "  He 
that  hath  the  Son  hath  life." 

Now,  dear  readers,  let  us  learn  from  this, 
the  essential  oneness  of  our  life  here,  and  life 
hereafter.  He  that  hath  the  Son  now  hath 
life  now  —  the  same  life  essentially,  he  shall 
have  for  ever  and  ever.  He  who  quits  this 
existence  without  this  life  shall,  never  have  it. 
Was  any  question  ever  asked  so  interesting 
as  this,  "  What  shall  we  be  ?  What  is  to  be 
the  future  of  our  life?  When  millions  and 
millions  of  ages  have  gone,  and  yet  others 
begin,  we  shall  be  —  but  what?  With  what 
feelings,  in  what  condition,  how  employed?" 
Can  any  question  be  equal  in  momentous  in- 
terest to  this?  To  explore  the  source  of 
some  mighty  river  —  to  penetrate  the  secrets 
of  the  frost-bound  pole,  to  see  what  creation 
is  like  in  the  heart  of  Africa,  what  adventu- 
rous spirits  have  toiled,  and  dared  and  en- 
dured !  But  here  is  a  secret  more  important, 
nearer  to  us  —  each  of  us  —  personal  to  each 
of  us — What  shall  we  be?  When  the  apostle 
saw  the  mysterious  book  in  Revelation,  and 
none  was  found  worthy  to  open  it  and  loose 


232  LIFE  IN  CHRIST. 

its  seals,  and  read  it,  he  wept  much.  And  if 
the  mysterious  volume  of  being  were  utterly 
sealed  to  us,  we  might  weep  too.  Yes,  many 
a  brave,  but  bewildered  spirit,  that  has  tried 
to  look  into  the  terrible  fathomless  depths  of 
being,  that  has  come  to  the  brink  as  it  were 
of  a  gulf,  been  arrested  there  at  the  limit,  and 
felt  itself  powerless  to  penetrate  the  gloomy 
immensity,  and  has  been  confounded,  has 
wept  in  bitterness  of  despair!  But  the  Book 
is  opened.  He  that  hath  the  Son  now  has  life 
—  the  life  he  will  always  have.  He  is  essen- 
tially what  he  will  always  be.  The  love  that 
draws  him  to  God  now  shall  draw  him  to 
Him  for  ever.  The  joys  that  gladden  him 
now  shall  have  power  to  charm  him  for  ever. 
The  character  which  he  endeavors  to  acquire 
now  he  shall  have  for  ever.  The  society  that 
delights  him  now  he  shall  have  for  ever.  The 
bias  of  mind  and  tone  of  spirit  which  he  longs 
and  prays  for  now  he  shall  have  for  ever.  He 
knows  not,  indeed,  what  he  shall  be  —  what 
new  senses  may  be  given  him,  what  new 
powers,  new  employments,  new  objects  of  ex- 
pectation, nev/  possessions,  but  He  knows  he 


LIFE  IN  CHRIST.  233 

will  be  perfect.  His  life  here  is  all  imperfect, 
It  is  a  heap  of  vain  attempts,  painful  failures, 
little  beginnings,  small  successes,  "  like  a  plan- 
tation of  stunted  trees  on  a  bleak  and  cheer- 
less heath."  But  then  he  will  be  perfect.  This 
life  begun  in  him  now,  given  him  in  Jesus, 
shall  go  on — on  for  ever,  with  enough  always 
in  the  eternal  future  to  give  the  zest  of  hope, 
and  enough  in  the  blessed  present  to  furnish 
perfect  enjoyment. 

Readers,  do  you  feel  that  such  a  life  is  the 
natural  continuation  of  what  you  are  now 
living  }  Is  there  any  unity  between  such  a  life  as 
this  and  yours  ?  For,  remember,  death  will 
make  no  essential  change  in  you.  Your  charac- 
ter shall  pass  through  death  untouched  in  all  its 
essential  elements.  Throw  into  the  furnace 
the  mass  of  iron  and  clay  and  it  shall  be  re- 
duced to  its  elements,  and  the  iron  shall  come 
out  from  the  clay  ;  but  it  is  the  same  iron  in 
itself  that  it  was  when  it  entered  the  furnace. 
It  undergoes  no  transmutation ;  and  so  you 
and  I  shall'  find.  Death  will  swallow  us 
and  we  shall  go  into  the  grave,  but  we 
shall  come  forth   from    both    in   all   essential 


234  LIFE  IN  CHRIST. 

respects  the  same,  Avith  tastes,  affections,  de- 
sires substantially  the  same  as  when  we  en- 
tered the  valley  in  which  body  and  spirit  are 
separated.  Are  there  not  some  of  you  look- 
ing to  death  as  a  saviour,*  or,  at  least,  a  sancti- 
fier.  You  say — "  I  am  now,  I  admit,  all  wrong, 
but  death  will  change  me,  and  put  me  in  such 
a  new  state  that  I  shall  feel  no  motive  to  sin." 
No,  indeed,  my  dear  reader,  death  will  do 
nothing  of  the  sort  for  you.  There  is  no  such 
power  in  death.  It  is  not  given  to  the  king 
of  terrors  to  transmute  evil  into  good,  any 
more  than  the  furnace  can  change  dross  into 
good  metal.  Death  can  set  the  seal  of  immu- 
tability on  you.  What  death  finds  you  it  can 
fix  you  for  ever.  If  it  find  you  believing 
God,  loving  Him,  trusting  Him,  making  Him 
your  chief  joy,  it  can  stereotype  that  as  the 
character  of  your  being  for  ever.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  find  you  alienated  from  God, 
able  to  satisfy  yourself  without  Him,  and,  in 
fact,  most  happy  when  farthest  from  Him,  it 
can  stereotype  that  as  your  character  for  ever. 
It  can — not  as  a  judge,  but  as  an  executioner^ — 
give  effect  to  that  sentence,  "  He  that  is  filthy 


LIFE  IN  CHRIST.  235 

let  him  be  filthy  still,  he  that  is  holy  let  him 
be  holy  still ;"  "  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath 
life,  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  shall  not  see 
life."  If,  then,  you  have  in  the  arms  of  your 
faith  a  Redeemer  loved  and  trusted,  you,  like 
Simeon,  as  he  held  the  infant  Jesus,  can  say — 
"'  Now,  Lord,  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  de- 
part in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  Thy 
salvation." 

There  are  some  among  you  who  have  the 
Son  and  have  this  life  ;  but  you  are  afraid  to 
own  it,  lest  it  should  be  presumption,  or  ap- 
pear presumption.  Anything  like  assurance 
you  shrink  from.  You  are  afraid  of  a  high 
degree  of  peace,  lest  it  be  self-deception. 
You  think  it  is  better  to  keep  away  from 
strong  confidence  and  full  joy.  Certainly  we 
would  warn  you  against  any  confidence  not 
founded  on  Christ,  and  any  joy  not  drawn 
from  Him.  But  we  would  advise  you,  on  the 
authority  of  the  Word,  to  hope — to  strong, 
confident  hope,  to  assured  hope,  and  to  a 
hearty  joy.  He  that  hath  the  Son,  he  that 
believeth  with  ever  so  feeble  a  faith,  hath  life. 
So  saith  the  Lord.     Faith  is  not  the  merit- 


236  LIFE  IN  CHRIST. 

orious  cause  of  life.  It  is  not  the  price  that 
pays  for  it.  If  it  were,  I  might  say,  "  I  have 
not,  perhaps,  enough  of  faith,  and  so  may  not 
have  life."  But  faith  is  not  the  meritorious 
cause  of  life,  any  more  than  the  windows  are 
the  cause  of  the  light  in  the  house.  The  win- 
dows are  the  means  by  which  the  free  light 
enters ;  and  faith  is  the  means  by  which  the 
free  life  enters  our  souls.  That  life  is  God's 
gift  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  it  is  ours  when 
we  believe,  as  the  light  fills  the  room  when 
the  windows  are  opened.  Now,  suppose  the 
Lord  Jesus  should  come  to  your  dwelling  — 
to  your  room — and  that  in  serene  majesty  He 
stood  before  you,  named  your  name,  told  you 
your  past  secret  history,  as  He  did  to  the 
woman  of  Samaria,  and  ended  by  telling  you 
He  would  absolutely  and  surely  bring  you  to 
heaven,  would  there  be  any  merit  or  good- 
ness in  hesitating  about  the  hearty  belief  of 
His  Word?  Would  there  be  any  pleasing 
humility  in  saying,  "  I  hope  He  will  keep  His 
word  and  bring  me  to  heaven .''"  Would  not 
this  be  to  insult  Him  ?  And  if  He  has  not 
appeared  but  written  the  message,  is  not    the 


LIFE  IN  CHRIST.  237 

case  the  same  ?  Nay,  is  it  not  stronger  in  the 
written  promise  than  the  spoken  ?  We  bind 
men  to  their  promises  by  getting  them  in 
writing.  Then,  why  not  beHeve  fully,  and 
have  a  full  peace,  a  full  assurance,  a  full  joy  ? 
"  But,"  you  say,  "  if  Jesus  appeared  it  would 
be  different  from  the  Word — we  should  realize 
it  more  than  the  word :  we  should  then  heart- 
ily rejoice."  But  why  ?  Is  not  faith  the  sub- 
stance of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of 
things  not  seen  ?  It  is  from  want  of  faith  that 
the  Word  of  Christ  is  less  impressive  to  you 
than  his  appearance  would  be.  Men  and 
brethren,  do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  ? 
Many  of  you  have  rested  on  Christ.  Then  it 
is  but  to  believe,  to  be  assured  that  he 
will  lead  you  for  his  name's  sake,  and  accom- 
plish His  purpose,  and  having  given  you 
Himself,  give  you  eternal  life.  Why,  has  He 
not  given  you  an  earnest  of  it  already  ? 
Heaven  is  the  abode  of  peace.  Have  you 
not  had  some  degree  of  peace  already  within 
you  ?  That  is  heaven  begun.  Heaven  is  the 
abode  of  love.  Have  you  not  had  some  feel- 
ing of  this  to  God,  and  to  the  Lamb,  and  to 


238  LIFE  IN  CHRIST. 

His  people  ?  That  is  heaven  begun.  Heaven 
is  the  place  of  holiness.  Have  you  not  been 
striving  after  holiness?  That  is  heaven  be- 
gun. Heaven  is  the  place  of  God's  revealed 
glory.  Has  not  some  of  that  glory  shone 
into  your  heart  already  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ.  That  is  heaven  begun.  These  are 
the  growing  shoots  of  God's  planting  —  the 
springing  corn  of  God's  husbandry,  and  He 
will  finish  the  work  in  righteousness,  He  will 
gather  the  corn  into  his  garner.  Do  not  then 
divorce  this  life,  believers,  from  that  which  is 
to  come.  Let  there  not  be  pernicious  es- 
trangement and  unnatural  dissociation  be- 
tween this  and  the  future  portion  of  our  one 
life.  "  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life."  Let 
this  be  remembered,  and  it  will  ''  lessen  the 
false  importance  of  the  things  of  this  world," 
and  slacken  their  hold  on  us,  and  it  will  bring 
us  daily  into  hallowed  and  improving  fellow- 
ship with  the  world  into  which  our  spiritual 
life  shall  cany  us — the  world  of  glory. 


THE  PLACE  OF  REPENTANCE  IN 
THE  EXPERIENCE  OF  A  CHRIS- 
TIAN. 


N  the  anxiety  to  proclaim  a  free  Gos- 
pel, the  Scripture  doctrine  of  re- 
pentance is  in  danger  of  being  push- 
ed out  of  its  place.  In  guarding 
men  against  delaying  their  acceptance  of 
Christ,  until  they  had  attained  suitable  peni- 
tence, we  may,  through  the  looseness  of  our 
speech,  or  the  dimness  of  their  apprehension, 
leave  the  impression  that  repentance  is  of  lit- 
tle or  no  account.  But  this  would  be  entire- 
ly opposed  to  all  Scripture  teaching.  What- 
ever the  word  may  mean,  "  repent"  is  often 
on  inspired  lips,  and  whatever  the  place  of 
this  attainment,  it  shines  conspicuously  in  the 
crown  of  Christian  graces.  The  Old  Testa- 
ment enjoins  it  on  sinning  Israel,  by  the  voice 

(239) 


240  PLACE  OF  REPENTANCE. 

of  kings  and  prophets.  The  annals  of  the 
■covenant-people  illustrate  it  abundantly.  The 
Baptist  preached  it.  The  Saviour  made  it 
an  essential  of  salvation  to  His  hearers,  and 
His  apostles  declare  He  was  exalted  to  be- 
stow it  upon  men.  Clear  judging  and  accu- 
rate speaking  are  surely  desirable  on  a  theme 
so  important  as  repentance  thus  appears  to 
be. 

Both  God  and  man  are  said  to  repent.  In 
relation  to  the  Divine  Being,  however,  the 
word  can  plainly  bear  no  sense  but  that  of  al- 
tering His  providences,  for  His  purposes  do 
not  alter.  And  so  it  is  said  (i  Sam.  xv.  29), 
"  The  strength  of  Israel  will  not  lie  nor  re- 
pent ;  for  He  is  not  a  man  that  He  should  re- 
pent." Whence  we  may  learn  how  foolish  it 
is  to  build  our  views  on  texts,  regardless  of 
their  connexion,  and  forgetful  of  the  circum- 
stances in  which  they  came  forth  from  Him, 
who  to  be  understood  by  man  with  His  pres- 
ent faculties,  must  speak  in  man's  language. 

Repentance  may  exist  in  relation  to  tempo- 
ral or  to  spirit jial  things.  The  son  in  the  par- 
able, at  first  disobeyed  his  father,  but  after- 


PLACE  OF  REPENTANCE.  241 

ward  repented,  and  set  to  work  in  the  vine- 
yard. And  the  men  of  Nineveh  repented  at 
the  preaching  of  Jonah.  A  man  repents  a 
bargain  he  has  made  ;  or  he  repents  an  offence 
committed  against  God,  In  both  cases  there 
is  after  wisdom,  as  the  word  rendered  repent- 
ance in  our  New  Testament  literally  means. 
In  both  cases  a  viev/  of  things  is  present  to 
the  mind,  which,  had  it  been  entertained  at 
the  time,  the  thing  would  not  have  been  done, 
and  which,  while  it  lasts,  will  prevent  the  re- 
petition of  the  act. 

Once  more,  repentance  may  be  produced 
in  different  ways.  A  man  gets  a  sight  of 
God's  law  and  its  awful  penalties,  and  says, 
"  I  regret  I  exposed  myself  to  all  this,"  or  a 
man  gets  a  sight  of  God's  love  and  says,  "  I 
regret  that  I  despised  and  outraged  all  that." 
There  is  regret  in  both  cases.  There  is  after 
wisdom  in  both  cases.  But  the  eyes  of  the 
mind  are  not  on  the  same  objects  in  both 
cases.  In  the  former,  the  man  is  looking  at 
himself  going  down  into  the  gulf.  In  the 
other,  the  man  is  looking  at  God's  wonderful 
pity.  Self  and  God — these  are  the  two  ob- 
II 


242  PLACE  OF  REPENTANCE. 

jects,  through  looking  at  which,  the  after  wis- 
dom comes.  And  to  these  words  it  is  only 
needful  to  add  a  syllable  to  get  simple  and  in- 
telligible definitions  of  two  kinds  of  repent- 
ance, the  selfish  and  the  godly. 

Selfish  repentance  has  no  regard  to  God, 
any  more  than  as  He  is  terrible  to  self.  It 
terminates  on  self.  Let  God  be  ever  so  lov- 
ing, merciful,  patient,  only  let  him  not  be  just 
and  holy,  and  this  repentance  would  never 
exist.  Sin,  therefore,  is  not  hateful  to  selfish 
repentance,  except  that  it  brings  self  into 
trouble.  That  it  offends  a  good  God,  grieves 
a  compassionate  God,  that  is  nothing  if  it 
could  be  indulged  without  imperilling  self. 
No  wonder  that  selfish  repentance  is  not  sav- 
ing. It  might  exist,  does  exist,  to  a  degree 
now  inconceivable  to  us,  in  hell.  It  may  be 
very  sincere  on  earth,  but  it  is  only  another 
form  of  the  sinful,  selfish,  corrupt  nature.  It 
is  the  human  heart  shrinking  from  suffering, 
but  not  yearning  after  God.  Godly  sorrow, 
on  the  other  hand,  eyes  God  mainly.  That 
He  should  have  been  sinned  against,  seems  the 
terrible  thing.     That  such  love  and  goodness 


PLACE  OF  REPENTANCE.  243 

should  have  been  despised  and  insulted,  seems 
intolerable.  "  Against  thee,  thee  only  have  I 
sinned,"  said  David,  when  he  had  wronged 
Uriah  and  others,  and  deeply  injured  and  dis- 
graced himself.  This  is  the  human  heart, 
yearning  after  God,  saying,  "  Nearer,  my 
God,  to  thee  ;  even  through  the  fires." 

We  may  trace  in  some  degree  the  origin  of 
these  opposite  forms  of  repentance.  Let 
there  be  disclosed  to  a  man  God's  justice, 
with  its  terrors  as  embodied  in  law,  and  let 
there  be  no  intimation  of  mercy,  grace,  or 
other  amiable  quality  in  the  law-giver,  and 
we  shall  have  a  certain  sorrow,  which  some 
of  the  writers  agree  to  call  "  legal,"  because 
the  law  has  produced  it.  The  same  term 
would  describe  any  effort  made  in  ignorance 
of  the  Gospel,  to  satisfy  law  by  a  supposed 
due  and  adequate  regret.  This  legal  sorrow 
is  for  all  practical  purposes  the  same  as  the 
selfish,  and  is,  of  course,  without  any  saving 
quality. 

But  let  the  same  man  have  disclosed  to 
him  the  mercy  and  grace  of  the  Law-giver, 
and  let  him   say,  "  I  am   sorry  for  offending 


244  PLACE  OF  REPENTANCE. 

such  a  being,"  and  he  has  an  entirely  different 
feeling  from  the  legal  repentance.  And  as 
the  mercy,  love,  and  other  amiable  qualities 
of  the  Law-giver  shine  in  the  person  and 
work  of  Christ,  or  in  other  words,  are  dis- 
closed in  the  Gospel,  the  regret  produced 
thus,  is  called  Evangelical  repentance. 

It  seems  to  follow  that  to  produce  selfish  or 
legal  repentance,  it  is  only  necessary  to  dwell 
on  the  evil  consequences  of  law-breaking,  in 
the  style  in  which  a  miserable  pamphlet,  enti- 
tled, somewhat  doubtfully,  "  Hell  opened  to 
Christians,"  describes  and  attempts  with  wood- 
cuts to  represent,  "  Gorgons,  and  Hydras, 
and  Chimeras  dire."  It  seems  also  to  follow, 
that  in  order  to  produce  Evangelical  or  god- 
ly repentance,  it  is  necessary  to  declare  the 
whole  of  the  divine  character,  and  as  that 
character  is  displayed  in  Christ;  in  other 
words,  to  preach  the  Gospel. 

It  seems  also  to  follow  from  this,  that  faith 
must,  in  the  order  of  things,  precede  repent- 
ance. A  man  does  not  tremble  till  he  believes 
the  law's  terrors  to  be  real ;  and  a  man  does 
not  melt  and  weep  till  he  believes  God's  love 


PLACE  OF  REPENTANCE.  245 

and  mercy  to  be  real.  We  do  not  mean  by 
that  statement,  that  a  man  will  receive  faith 
as  a  gift  from  God  on  the  first  of  the  month, 
and  on  the  second,  or  at  any  subsequent  time, 
receive  repentance ;  for  if  he  have  faith  on 
the  first,  he  will,  on  the  same  day,  have  re- 
pentance. We  only  mean  that,  in  the  order 
of  nature,  the  man  first  believes  God,  and 
then  repents,  as  we  first  perceive  a  calamity, 
and  then  lament  it.  So  repentance  is  "  the 
tear  dropped  from  the  eye  of  faith ;"  and  so 
the  Catechism,  than  which  no  little  book  is 
more  needed  just  now,  is  right  when  settling 
the  order  thus — "  Faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  re- 
pentance unto  life." 

It  seems  also  to  follow,  that  a  preacher  will 
be  quite  correct  who  says  to  his  hearers,  "  Do 
not  put  off  your  coming  to  Christ  till  you 
have  any  given  amount  of  repentance ;  re- 
pentance in  this  place,  and  connection,  does 
not  improve  your  condition,  or  tend  to  your 
safety."  For,  in  saying  this,  he  only  declares 
that  law-work  is  not  saving  work.  Jesus  does 
not  say,  "  This  is  life  eternal  that  they  might 
know  Thy  terrors,"  but,  "  that  they  may  know 


246  PLACE  OF  REPENTANCE. 

Thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ, 
whom  thou  hast  sent."  But  he  will  b.e  quite 
wrong,  if  he  willingly  impress  the  people  with 
the  idea  that  repentance  has  no  place  in  the 
Christian  system,  or  the  Christian  life,  or  the 
preaching  of  the  truth.  All  the  history  of 
inspired  preaching  is  against  this  one-sided 
view.  The  Gospel  preacher  may  well  say 
with  an  Old  Testament  prophet  (Joel,  ii.  12, 
13),  "  Therefore  also  now,  saith  the  Lord,  turn 
ye  even  to  me  with  all  your  heart,  and  with 
fasting,  and  with  weeping,  and  with  mourn- 
ing ;  and  rend  your  heart,  and  not  your  gar- 
ments, and  turn  unto  the  Lord  your  God :  for 
He  is  gracious  and  merciful,  slow  to  anger, 
and  of  great  kindness,  and  repenteth  him  of 
the  evil." 

And  if  the  Lord  bless  his  preaching,  the  re- 
sult will  be  as  in  another  Old  Testament 
prophet  (Jer.  xxxi.  9),  "  They  shall  come  with 
weeping,  and  with  supplications  will  I  lead 
them :  I  will  cause  them  to  walk  by  the  rivers 
of  waters  in  a  straight  way,  wherein  they 
shall  not  stumble ;  for  I  am  a  father  to  Israel, 
and  Ephraim  is  my  first-born."     Nor  is  this 


PLACE  OF  REPENTANCE.  247 

out  of  harmony  with  New  Testament  truth. 
The  woman  who  stood  behind  Christ,  weep- 
ing, at  Simon's  table,  had  nothing  legal  or 
objectionable  in  her  tears,  for  our  Lord  said 
(Luke  vii.  47,  48) — "  Wherefore  I  say  unto 
thee,  her  sins,  which  are  many,  are  forgiven  ; 
for  she  loved  much  :  but  to  whom  little  is  for- 
given, the  same  loveth  little.  And  he  said 
imto  her,  thy  sins  are  forgiven."  And  it  was 
along  with  the  fullest  statement  of  saving 
truth  that  the  apostle  said  to  the  people, 
"  pricked  in  their  heart,"  into  whose  souls  the 
light  was  entering,  in  whom  an  after-wisdom 
was  being  wrought  of  the  Holy  Ghost  (Acts 
ii.  38),  "  Then  Peter  said  unto  them.  Repent, 
and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and 
ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 
If  anybody  insist  on  declaring  that  that  word 
could  only  mean  strictly,  "  Change  your 
mind,"  since  the  apostle  could  not  be  sup- 
posed to  prescribe  anything  else  to  inquirers 
than  looking  to  Christ,  we  reply :  the  apostles 
were  not  intent  on  propounding  a  system  of 
philosophical  divinit)^  but  were  dealing  prac- 


248  PLACE  OF  REPENTANCE, 

tically  with  practical  men,  awaking  to  a  sense 
of  sin,  in  whose  heart  the  streams  of  suitable 
sorrow  were  beginning  and  should  be  en- 
couraged, to  flow ;  and  they,  therefore,  like 
Paul  to  the  Jews  and  Greeks,  testified  (Acts 
20,  2i),  "Repentance  toward  God,  and  faith 
tov/ard  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  If  we  wi«h 
to  practise  a  kind  of  spiritual  quackery, 
and  dexterously  to  convey  to  our  hearers 
the  notion  that  we  have  some  fuller  gos- 
pel and  some  nearer,  and  straighter  road 
to  peace  than  other  Evangelical  Christians, 
let  us  dwell  one-sidedly  on  the  second  part 
of  this  apostolic  testimony,  and  decry  all 
who  speak  of  both,  and  in  their  proper  places  ; 
but  we  do  so  at  the  risk  of  producing  a  su- 
perficial religion,  and  we  can  hardly  say  to 
our  hearers,  as  Paul  did  in  the  verse  preced- 
ing that  just  quoted,  "  I  kept  back  nothing 
profitable  unto  you." 


WHAT   IS   THE   GOSPEL? 

HE  easiest  triumphs  the  devil  gains 
arc  over  men  who  are  kept  indiffer- 
ent, who  sit  still,  and  make  no  move- 
ment towards  salvation,  or,  which  is 
the  same  as  sitting  still,  go  with  the  stream — 
follow  on  according  to  the  course  of  this 
world. 

But  times  come  when  men  are  disturbed 
and  roused  out  of  this  condition,  when  they 
think  something  about  salvation,  and  will  be 
doing  something  towards  it ;  and  it  is  now 
that  errors  become  part  of  Satan's  machinery- 
A  man  sitting  by  the  roadside  does  not  go 
wrong — it  is  the  man  w^alking  onward  who 
goes  wrong,  and  if  he  be  off  the  road,  the 
faster  he  walks  the  further  he  goes  wrong. 
11-:^  (249) 


250  WHAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL? 

Hence,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  time  of 
religious  earnestness  is  the  time  of  most  mis- 
takes. A  slumbering  community  does  not 
think  enough  about  religion  to  err  about  it. 
A  people  roused  up  to  think  and  speak  and 
write  about  religion  will  be  assailed  by  Satan 
with  errors.  If  they  will  sail  away  from  the 
harbor  of  indifference,  he  will  hang  out  false 
lights  to  divert  them  from  the  safe  and 
straight  course.  What  a  multitude  of  errors 
the  Apostolic  age  brought  forth,  and  how 
much  trouble  the  Apostles  had  to  combat 
them  ! 

Some  said  that  circumcision  was  needful  to 
salvation,  like  the  Galatians. 

Some  said  that  "  the  resurrection  is  past  al- 
ready." 

Some  said  that  our  Lord's  second  coming 
was  just  at  hand,  and  gave  up  their  business, 
and  bewailed  their  dead  friends,  like  the  Thes- 
salonians. 

Some  said  that  our  Lord  had  only  an  ap- 
parent human  body,  not  a  real ;  and  John 
had  to  correct  their  error  in  his  first  epistle 
(chap.  i.  i). 


WHAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL?  251 

Some  said,  we  are  saved  by  grace,  and  may 
live  as  we  list  —  turning  the  grace  of  God 
into  licentiousness.     And  finally, 

Some  made  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  practice, 
an  ordinary  feast,  and  used  it  for  gluttony 
and  drunkenness. 

The  same  thing  occurred  in  other  forms  at 
the  Reformation  time — a  fact  which  is  used 
to  damage  the  Reformation  by  one-sided 
writers,  who  do  not  see  that  it  is  equally 
damaging  to  primitive  and  Apostolic  Christi- 
anity ;  that  it  is  a  necessity,  not  of  true  relig- 
ion, but  of  true  religion  coming  into  contact 
with  corrupt  man,  and  into  collision  with  a 
subtle  and  powerful  enemy  of  souls. 

The  same  thing  may  be  looked  for  in  a 
measure  in  any  time  of  revived  religion.  I  think 
we  may  say,  with  profound  gratitude,  that  few 
years  pass  that  are  not  marked  by  special 
religious  earnestness  over  regions  more  or 
less  wide :  at  such  times  and  in  such  places, 
questions  are  raised  and  discussed  that  have 
not  been  so  agitated  before. 

We  do  not  object  to  this  canvassing — any- 
thing is  better  than  apathy.     "We  have  more 


252  WHAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL? 

health  and  usefulness  in  the  rolling  river, 
even  with  its  rapids  and  brawling  noises  as  it 
dashes  over  the  rocks,  than  in  the  stagnant 
marsh  that  breeds  fever  and  pestilence.  Only 
let  the  Church,  with  her  Bible  in  her  hand 
be  able  to  answer  these  questions  to  all  honest 
inquirers,  and  there  is,  by  God's  blessing, 
nothing  to  fear  from  the  freest  and  fullest  in- 
vestigation. 

One  of  the  first,  and  surely  most  important, 
of  these  questions  is,  "  What  is  the  gospel  ?" 
Several  causes  produce  mistakes  on  this  point 
among  good  people,  into  whose  hands  the 
Devil  will  obviously  prefer  to  put  an  error  if 
he  can.  It  has  no  chance  with  the  bad — it 
has  with  the  good. 

I.  A  laudable  desire  to  be  very  simple. 
For  this  end  the  gospel  is  reduced  to  a  single 
statement,  a  single  text,  a  single  fact.  Some- 
times it  is  this  truth  (i),  Christ  put  away  sin 
by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself;  or  this  (2),  He 
died  for  our  sins,  and  rose  again  for  our  jus- 
tification ;  or  this  statement  (3),  He  died  for 
you  ;  believe  that,  and  you  are  saved. 

This  looks  simple,  and  is  attractive.     But 


WHAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL?  253 

simplicity,  like  gold,  may  be  bought  too  dear. 
I  am  to  give  an  account  of  that  noble  Church, 
the  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodists.  Suppose 
T  content  myself  with  saying,  "  They  are  a 
pious  people,"  I  have  made  a  "simple  state- 
ment," but  surely  a  defective,  unsatisfactory 
statement !  It  is  true,  but  it  is  only  a  frag- 
ment of  the  truth  ;  and  it  might  be  justly 
complained  that  I  had  given  a  meagre  and 
inadequate  account  of  them.  And  just  so,  if, 
for  the  sake  of  simplicity,  we  reduce  the  Gos- 
pel to  a  proposition  in  this  way,  and  make 
that  the  exclusive  message,  we  give  a  meagre 
and  inadequate  account  of  it ;  and  our  hearers 
may  well  ask,  Why,  then,  this  lengthy  Bible, 
with  its  gospels,  prophets,  and  epistles,  its 
precepts,  promises,  and  warnings  ? 

2.  Good  men  are  led  into  mistakes  by  the 
successful  handling  of  particular  truths  by 
other  good  men.  That  noble  band  of  men 
whom  John  Wesley  led  and  organized,  roused 
up  a  self-satisfied,  formal  church  and  a  sleep- 
ing community,  with  the  word,  "  Ye  must  be 
born  again,"  "  Except  ye  be  converted,"  etc. ; 
and  it  might  be  thought,  at  first  sight,  that 


254  WHAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL? 

this  cry,  having  been  so  much  owned  of  God, 
should  be  constantly  and  exclusively  repeated  ; 
but  every  one  knows  that  a  community  in  a 
different  state  will  be  appropriately  addressed 
with  a  different  truth.  On  one  occasion  John 
Wesley  was  met,  and  his  money  demanded, 
by  a  highwayman.  He  gave  him  his  money, 
and  the  man  departed.  Mr,  Wesley  called 
him  back,  and  said,  "  The  time  may  come 
when  you  will  repent  and  feel  remorse  for 
your  wickedness,  and  if  it  does,  remember 
that  '  the  blood  of  Jesus  cleanseth  from  all 
sin,' "  and  so  dismissed  the  man.  But  the 
man  afterwards  waited  on  him,  recalled  the 
circumstance,  and  stated  it  was  the  means  of 
his  conversion.  Now,  it  would  have  been 
supremely  foolish  for  Mr.  Wesley  to  argue 
that,  God  having  owned  that  truth,  it  was 
to  be  his  exclusive  message  to  all  men. 
Yet  these  two  practical  mistakes  are  commit- 
ted now,  and  the  results  are,  (i)  a  narrow  vieiv 
of  truth,  and  (2)  a  narrow  and  intolerant  and 
censorious  spirit,  and  (3)  a  shallow  and  super- 
ficial type  of  religion. 

What,  then,  is  the  Gospel  ?     It  is  a  revelation 


WHAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL?  255 

of  God's  mercy  to  fallen  men  through  Christ 
the  Mediator.  It  is  the  presentation  to  us  of 
the  person  and  xvork  of  Christ,  to  be  received 
and  rested  upon  by  us — not  of  a  mere  doc- 
trine to  be  believed,  however  firmly,  nor  a 
mere  proposition  to  be  accepted,  however 
heartily.  It  offers  a  living  Person,  divine  and 
human,  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of  man, 
to  be  accepted  by  us  in  His  offices  for  our 
salvation,  and  to  whom  all  this  Bible  bears 
witness.  Now,  I  would  as  soon  think  of  gath- 
ering up  in  my  hand  all  the  waters  of  a  noble 
river  that  flows  through  many  a  province, 
and  satisfies  the  thirst  of  man  and  beast,  and 
saying,  "■  I  have  them  all  here,  here,  and  no- 
where else,"  as  holding  up  a  single  text,  or  a 
single  truth,  or  a  single  proposition,  and  say- 
ing "Here  is  all  the  Gospel  —  here,  and  no- 
where else."  The  river  of  living  water  flows 
through  all  this  Bible,  and  men  approach  it 
from  different  sides,  and  in  different  ways, 
and  drink  and  live. 

Let  me  try  to  make  this  plain  to  you.  The 
Gospel  was  preached  to  Adam  in  the  garden 
— "  The  seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the 


256  WHAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL? 

serpent's  head."  That  promised  seed,  re- 
ceived by  faith,  was  a  Saviour  to  Adam.  He 
had  the  Gospel.  Paul  tells  us  the  Scripture 
— /.  e.,  the  Lord  in  the  Scripture — preached 
the  Gospel  to  Abraham,  saying,  "  In  thee 
shall  all  nations  be  blessed." 

"Ah!  but,"  you  say,  ''all  this  has  passed 
av/ay,  and  Christ  has  come,  and  now  the  Gos- 
pel is  one  definite  thing,  one  simple  and  ex- 
clusive truth,  the  same  to  be  presented  to 
every  one,  and  he  who  does  not  present  that, 
does  not  present  the  Gospel."  Now,  let  me 
appeal  to  your  judgment  regarding  this  state- 
ment. 

Suppose  I  am  sent  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
the  heathen,  who  have  gods  of  their  own 
making  among  them.  Where  is  the  one  pro- 
position I  am  to  tell  them  ?  Nowhere  in 
Scripture.  I  am  to  show  them  that  God  is, 
and  that  He  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  dili- 
gently seek  Him  ;  that  He  is  holy,  just,  and 
sovereign  as  a  judge,  and  that  we  need  to  be 
prepared  for  dealing  with  Him.  Will  any 
one  tell  me  that  I  am  not  preaching  the  Gos- 
pel all   this    time  ?    Why,    I   have  apostolic 


WHAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL?  257 

authority  for  this  course.  In  Acts  xvii., 
Paul's  discourse  to  polished  heathens  at 
Athens  is  given  at  length,  and  it  is  just  such 
as  I  have  described — a  masterly  compendium 
of  natural  theology,  resistless  logic,  skilful 
appeal,  and  even  heathen  poetry.  Will  any 
one  tell  me  Paul  was  not  preaching  the  Gos- 
pel at  Athens  all  this  time  ? 

Suppose  I  am  sent  to  preach  to  Jews,  who 
own  God  in  the  Old  Testament,  but  deny 
that  Christ  came  as  His  Son  and  our  Saviour. 
What  am  I  to  do  but,  from  a  review  of  their 
own  history,  and  of  the  prophecies,  and  of 
Christ's  life  and  death  and  resurrection,  prove 
to  them  that  this  is  the  Christ  ?  Will  any 
one  tell  me  I  am  not  preaching  the  Gospel  to 
them  ?  Why,  again  we  have  apostolic  exam- 
ple, for  we  have  the  preaching  of  Peter  on 
the  Day  of  Pentecost,  in  Acts  ii. ;  and  in  the 
Temple,  in  Acts  iii. ;  of  Stephen,  in  Acts  vii. ; 
and  of  Paul  at  Antioch,  in  Acts  xiii.  Will 
any  one  tell  us  that  Paul  did  not  preach  the 
Gospel  there  ? 

Suppose  I  am  sent  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
a  self-righteous,  but  intelligent,  people,  who 


258  WHAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL? 

have  low  views  of  God  and  His  law,  and  cor- 
respondingly high  views  of  themselves — am  I 
not  to  show  the  holiness  and  spirituality  of 
that  law,  their  shortcomings,  and  their  need 
of  a  perfect  righteousness  ?  Am  I  to  be  told 
I  am  not  then  preaching  the  Gospel  ?  Why, 
this  is  the  very  thing  our  Lord  did  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  other  addresses  of 
His  to  the  people.  Am  I  to  be  told  that  He 
did  not  preach  the  Gospel  ?  Suppose  I  am 
sent  to  persons  who  are  steeped  in  carelessness 
and  sin, — am  I  not  to  take  pains  to  show  them 
their  sin  and  its  consequences  ?  Am  I  not 
then  preaching  the  Gospel  ?  Why,  this  is 
the  very  thing  our  Lord  had  to  do  w'ith  the 
Samaritan  woman,  and  Paul  with  Felix.  Am 
I  to  be  told  they  did  not  preach  the  Gospel 
unto  them  ?  Suppose  I  am  sent  to  persons 
who,  with  a  certain  religiousness  of  feeling, 
hold  Christ  to  be  a  creature,  and  His  death 
only  an  example  of  heroic  self-sacrifice,  or 
suffering  innocence, — am  I  not  to  show  the 
Divinity  of  Christ,  and  the  nature  of  His 
atonement  ?  And  is  this  not  to  be  reckoned 
preaching  the  Gospel  ? 


W//A  T  IS  THE  GOSPEL  ?  259 

Undoubtedly  we  have  in  Scripture  differ- 
ent classes  of  persons,  addressed  by  our  Lord 
and  His  apostles  in  different  forms,  yet,  to  all 
of  them  the  Gospel  is  preached,  and  there  is 
no  coUision  or  conflict  between  them.  They 
set  forth,  in  different  aspects  of  it,  the  one 
grand  reality — viz.,  the  person  and  work  of 
Christ  to  be  received  by  men  for  salvation, 
and  they  present  each  that  view  of  the  truth 
which  the  condition  of  the  hearers  suggests 
and  demands.  But  what  if  Peter  should  claim 
to  be  preaching  the  Gospel  exclusively  and 
pre-eminently,  or  assert  that  only  one  side  of 
the  truth  should  be  held  up,  because  God 
blessed  it  at  Pentecost — would  not  this  be  a 
grievous  practical  mistake  ?  Or  suppose  that 
\^  —  having  thought  it  good  to  set  forth,  in  a 
former  paper,  a  particular  part  of  the  truth, — 
should  give  you  the  impression  that  the  ex- 
cellent rector  of  the  next  parish,  for  exam- 
ple, failed  to  preach  the  Gospel  every  time 
he  preached  anything  but  that — should  net 
I  be  doing  evil,  the  worst  form  of  it  I  could 
do,  to  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  ?  But  this  is, 
I  fear,  being  done  in  some  instances,  and  it 


26o  WHAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL? 

could  not  be  censured  in  too  strong  terms, 
"  Oh !"  says  A.,  B.,  or  C,  "  I  never  do  this." 
Very  well ;  we  have  only  to  do  with  those 
who  do  fall  into  this  practical  error.  It  is 
tJicir  uncharitableness  and  narrowness  we  de- 
nounce. 

Suppose  I  am  to  persuade  my  fellow-coun- 
tr3'men  to  go  and  colonize  and  possess  a 
splendid  island  of  the  ocean,  with  noble  riv- 
ers, splendid  soil,  and  rich  mines.  I  go  to 
the  farmer,  and  I  tell  him  of  its  fertile  plains ; 
to  the  miner,  of  its  rocks  rich  in  ore  ;  to  the 
merchant,  of  its  rivers,  highways  for  a  wealthy 
commerce,  and  seats  for  crowded  cities.  Do 
I  contradict  myself,  or  exceed  my  commis- 
sion ?  And  suppose  my  countrymen  refuse 
to  go,  satisfied  with  barren  and  uncertain 
prospects  at  home — do  I  travel  outside  my 
commiision,  or  fail  to  execute  it,  because  I 
show  them  the  worthlessness  of  their  present 
possessions  ?  And  this,  dear  friends,  is  the 
thing  we  have  to  do.  God  offers  you  Christ 
in  all  His  offices — your  prophet,  to  teach  you  ; 
3'our  priest,  atoning  and  pleading  ;  your  king, 
ruling,  defending,  and  governing; — in  all  His 


WHAT  IS  THE  GOSPEL?  261 

characters, — brother,  example,  friend  ; — with 
all  His  possessions  —  righteousness,  accep- 
tance, holiness,  victory,  glory.  We  present 
Him  to  you  freely.  We  dwell  on  the  various 
parts  of  His  work,  and  on  the  glory  of  His 
person,  to  win  you  to  Him  ;  and  v/e  declare 
unto  you  His  law,  to  show  you  how  to  glorify 
Him.  We  declare  unto  you  the  whole  coun- 
sel of  God,  and  we  plead  with  you  that  you 
receive  and  rest  on  Christ,  and  that  you  live 
for  and  by  Christ.  We  wish  you  to  be  saved. 
One  part  of  truth  may  arrest  one,  and  an- 
other, another ;  but  as  long  as  Christ  is  its 
substance,  it  is  the  Gospel. 

You  may  have  read  or  heard  of  the  case  of 
a  self-righteous  but  earnest  man,  who  was 
seeking  peace.  Walking  through  the  town, 
he  came  upon  a  blind  man  reading  from  the 
raised  characters  to  a  little  circle.  The  poor 
mjin  was  at  the  verse  Acts  iv.  12 — "There  is 
none  other," — lost  his  place,  and,  going  back 
on  it,  repeated  : — "■  none  other  name" — "  none 
other  name" — "  none  other  name."  The  gen- 
tleman heard  and  passed  on,  but  as  he  lay 
down  that  night,  like  the  music  of  evening 


262 


IVI/A  T  IS  THE  GOSPEL. 


bells,  this  word  fell  on  his  spirit — "  none  other 
name  ;"  and  when  he  awoke  in  the  morning, 
its  echo  was  there,  and  died  not  away  till  he 
had  peace  through  Christ. 


HINDRANCES    TO   PERSONAL   RE- 
LIGION. 


AIUS  must  have  been  in  a  most  de- 
sirable religious  condition  when  the 
Apostle  could  throw  his  good  wishes 
into  this  form  :  "  Beloved,  I  wish 
above  all  things  that  thou  mayest  prosper 
and  be  in  health,  even  as  thy  soul  prosper- 
eth."  Such  a  measure  of  outward  and  gen- 
eral progress  as  their  souls  are  making  in  in- 
ward and  spiritual  things  would  be  no  great 
advancement  to  many.  It  would  be  more 
natural  and  true  to  the  facts  with  many  to 
express  one's  kindly  desires  in  this  form  —  "I 
wish  thy  soul  may  prosper  even  as  thy  body, 
or  business,  or  family,  prospers." 

And   yet   our  personal   religion   ought   to 

Growth,  which 

(263) 


have  at  least  three  things 


264    HINDRANCES  TO  PERSONAL  RELIGION. 

distinguishes  all  living  things  that  have  not 
reached  perfection  ;  Comfort,  which  attends 
the  healthy  exercise  of  all  our  capacities  ;  and 
Power,  which  we  possess  in  right,  as  a  royal 
priesthood,  but  which,  alas !  in  fact,  we  for- 
feit by  indolence  and  other  forms  of  sinning. 

And  why  is  it  so?  What  are  the  imme- 
diate and  actual  causes  within  our  compre- 
hension and  within  our  reach,  of  this  back- 
v/ard  spiritual  condition?  We  can  estimate 
and  discuss  the  causes  of  national  decay,  or 
personal  failure  in  any  line  of  effort.  Let  us. 
even  so,  look  to  the  obstacles  that  prevent 
the  growth,  comfort,  and  power  of  our  per- 
sonal religion. 

I.  Some,  perhaps  all  of  us,  suffer  from  hav- 
ing too  many  occupations.  We  attempt  so 
many  things,  wc  can  do  few  or  none  of  them 
well.  Our  time  is  frittered  away  on  miscel- 
laneous pursuits,  and  our  strength  is  wasted 
over  too  wide  a  surface.  We  are  not  very 
good  scholars,  nor  very  good  politicians,  nor 
very  good  farmers,  nor  very  good  artists,  nor 
very  thorough  worldlings,  nor  very  good 
Christians,  from  trying  to  do  a  httlc  in  scv- 


HINDRANCES  TO  PERSONAL  RELIGION.    265 

eral  of  these  characters ;  and  some  who  con- 
fine themselves  to,  perhaps,  one  thing  onl}^ 
in  addition  to  their  spiritual  condition,  are  so 
awfidly  in  earnest  about  that  one  thing,  as  to 
leave  too  little  time  and  strength  for  religious 
advancement.  For  reading,  or,  as  the  Apos- 
tle represents  it,  feeding  on  the  word,  there 
is  little  time.  Hurried  eating  of  the  daily- 
food,  I  have  heard,  is  bad  for  the  physical 
health.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  swallowing 
the  allowance  of  spiritual  food  so  that  it  shall 
do  no  good.  Thinking,  or,  as  it  is  called) 
"  meditation,"  or  reflection,  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. To  dress,  pay,  and  receive  visits,  keep 
abreast  of  the  literature  of  the  day,  do  com- 
mon duties,  and  "  be  like  other  people,"  and, 
at  the  same  time,  "  think,"  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion with  many.  And  what  prospect  is  there 
of  being  much  in  prayer  with  hurried  Scrip- 
ture reading,  and  no  thought?  Look  about, 
Christians,  and  consider  what  you  can  prop- 
erly forego,  if  you  are  to  prosper  in  your 
souls.  This  is  the  first  consideration  ;  all  else 
is  secondary. 

2.    But   this    suggests    another   great   hin- 
12 


2  66    HINDRANCES  TO  PERSONAL  RELIGION. 

drance  —  TJic  zvant  of  a  single  eye.  We  are 
not  content  to  stake  all  on  the  one  thing.  We 
are  anxious  to  have  many  cisterns,  out  of 
which  to  draw  the  waters  of  happiness.  We 
do  not  wish  to  crucify  self  altogether.  We 
desire  to  stand  fairly  with  the  ivorld.  We  look 
in  many  directions  besides  upwards.  Our 
eyes  are  not  to  God  like  the  faithful  maid's  to 
her  mistress.  We  cannot  say  our  expectation 
is  only  from  Him,  for  we  expect  a  good  deal 
from  self,  and  so  we  please,  indulge,  and  mag- 
nify self;  a  good  deal  from  the  world,  and  so 
we  tolerate,  and  even  conciliate  and  flatter  it. 
Our  eye  is  not  single.  And  so  when  some- 
thing is  wrong  about  self,  and  we  should  cru- 
cify it,  or  something  is  very  wrong  about  the 
world,  and  we  should,  for  our  part,  resist  it, 
we  "  cannot  see  it."  We  do  not  wish  to  see 
it.  You  may  hand  us  the  glass  of  the  word  : 
we  put  it  to  the  blind  eye.  So  we  are  full  of 
inconsistencies.  Our  road  lies  straight  on  ; 
but  there  are  coveted  objects  right  and  left, 
which  we  wish  to  pick  up  by  the  way,  and 
on  which  we  are  casting  longing  looks,  and 
turning  to  which,  ever  and  anon,  our  path  is 


HINDRANCES  TO  PERSONAL  RELIGION.    26} 

crooked  and  our  progress  slow.  I  lately  saw 
two  people  walking  on  a  fine  strand.  One 
was  hurrying  home  and  one  was  sauntering 
—  ready  to  pick  up  a  shell  here,  or  linger  to 
measure  the  advance  of  the  tide  there.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  track  of  the  one  was  straight 
as  an  arrow  —  he  had  an  object  before  him  on 
which  he  was  intent.  The  other  had, "for  the 
time,  no  object  but  to  loiter,  and  his  track 
was  crooked,  and  ever  returning  on  itself. 
We  should  be  intent  on  one  thing,  our  eyes 
looking  right  on ;  but  we  are  lamentably 
loitering  as  far  as  God  is  concerned,  and  our 
"  footprints  on  the  sands  of  time  "  are  often 
zigzag  —  sometimes  retrograde.  Oh!  for  a 
little  of  his  concentration  of  purpose  who 
said,  "  This  one  thing  I  do  !  "  Oh !  for  more 
of  the  mind  of  Him  who  declared,  "  My  meat 
and  my  drink  is  to  do  the  will  of  my  Father 
in  heaven  ! " 

3.  But  this  only  leads  to  another  main  hin- 
drance— Our  nature  is  in  great  part  iinreneived 
This  may  be  variously  conceived  and  de- 
scribed. We  apprehend  only  a  part  of  the 
truth  ;  or  we  feel  it  only  partially.    Our  heart 


2GS    HINDRANCES  TO  PERSONAL  RELIGION. 

is  divided  ;  or  it  vacillates,  instead  of  being 
fixed.  Wc  are  not  "  perfect,"  because  we  do 
not  wish  to  be  so.  We  are  less  holy  than  we 
might  be,  because  we  do  not  wish  to  be  alto- 
gether the  Lord's.  Sin  appears  in  some  forms 
necessary  to  a  part  of  our  happiness.  We 
cannot  quite  conceive  of  being  wholly  happy 
and  wholly  the  Lord's.  To  tell  us  that  this 
shall  be  the  case  in  heaven  is  nothing,  because 
we  say  to  ourselves  that  we  in  ourselves  shall 
be  different  there  from  what  we  are  here. 
We  count  the  Lord  holy,  a  hater  of  all  sin, 
and  yet  we  love  it  in  some  of  its  shapes.  We 
say  Christ  died  to  put  it  away,  and  yet  we 
secretly  resolve  to  keep  some  of  it  for  the 
present.  We  see  it  nail  Him  to  the  tree,  and 
yet  we  yield  to  its  blandishments,  and  find  a 
portion  of  our  enjoyment  in  its  indulgence. 
We  think  with  some  pleasure  of  much  we 
dare  not  speak  of,  and  speak  with  som'e  plea- 
sure of  much  we  dare  not  do.  And  in  this 
we  are  not  passive,  but  active.  It  is  not  that 
we  are  not  approached  by  a  power  equal  to 
the  renewing  of  us  wholly,  but  that  we  will 
not  submit  to  it.     The  medicine  is  here,  but 


HINDRANCES  TO  PERSONAL  RELIGION.    269 

we  will  not  take  it.  The  Teacher  is  at  hand, 
ready  and  competent,  but  we  will  not  learn. 
The  Deliverer  is  thundering  at  the  gates  and 
ready  to  deliver  us  from  the  sins  that  hold  us 
in  bondage,  but  we  have  become  attached 
friends  to  some  of  them,  and  do  not  like  to  be 
parted  from  them  at  the  present  entirely. 
And  so  with  the  one  hand  we  open  the  gates 
and  say,  "  Come  in,"  and  with  the  other  we 
close  the  door  of  some  secret  and  safe  hiding- 
place  in  which  a  mortal  enemy  is  lurking. 
Samson  is  a  good  man,  but  he  has  darling 
lusts ;  Lot  is  a  good  man,  but  he  wishes  to 
get  on  in  the  world  ;  Peter  is  a  good  man, 
but  he  likes  to  lead  and  be  somebody ;  Naa- 
man  the  Syrian,  is  a  good  man,  but  he  does 
not  wish  to  go  out  of  favor  with  his  Sove- 
reign. And  so  besetting  sins  linger  with  us, 
and  are  a  drag  on  the  wheels  of  religious 
progress. 

4.  We  are  retarded  by  low  viczvs  of  our  call- 
ing. We  take  our  7ia7nes  from  Christ  and  the 
Scriptures ;  but  we  take  our  viezvs  from  the 
world,  i.  e.,  from  that  class  of  people  among 
whom   our  lives  are  spent.     We  are  "disci- 


270    HINDRANCES  TO  PERSONAL  RELIGION. 

pies,"  but  we  do  not  follow  Christ  at  any  in- 
convenience. If  there  be  inconvenience  we 
do  not  see  it  our  duty  to  follow  Him.  We 
are  soldiers,  but  we  do  not  run  any  risks  in 
fighting  for  Him.  We  are  in  full  force  on 
parade,  and  make  now  and  then  a  great  show 
of  our  weapons.  But  where  are  our  battle" 
fields?  Where  our  honorable  scars?  Where 
our  trophies?  Who  dislikes  us  because  we 
stood  up  manfully  for  Christ's  truth  and  hon- 
or? "Woe  unto  us,  for  all  men  speak  well 
of  us!"  We  are  a  priesthood — where  are 
our  sacrifices?  We  are  fellow-workers  with 
God  —  what  are  we  doing  with  God  ?  Many 
of  us  hardly  ever  think  of  the  obligation  to 
labor  for  the  Lord.  Fashion  can  command 
us.  Pleasure  can  command  us.  Money  can 
command  us.  Society  can  command  us. 
God  speaks  to  us,  and  we  are  deaf  as  an  ad- 
der. You  shall  hear  men  say,  "  I  must  extend 
my  business,"  *'  I  must  give  over  such  a  Chris- 
tian labor,"  "  I  must  go  to  such  a  place." 
Why  "must?"  Who  fixes  the  obligation? 
You  are  a  freeman  under  God,  and  properly 
speaking,  God  alone  is  entitled  to  pronounce 


HINDRANCES  TO  PERSONAL  RELIGION.    271 

the  words  "you  must"  to  you.  Has  He  said 
of  this  thing-  you  are  doing  or  deserting  "  you 
must !  "  One  sees  men  choose  residences  for 
themselves,  professions  for  their  children,  , 
friends  for  their  family,  amusements  for  their 
leisure  hours,  even  ministers,  and  meetings, 
and  sacraments  for  their  souls  and  the  souls 
of  their  children  under  this  imaginary  obliga- 
tion, where,  if  they  only  looked  at  the  thing 
in  the  light  of  God's  word,  and  only  took  the 
trouble  to  look  at  first  principles,  they  would 
have  to  admit  that  the  only  Being  entitled  to 
say  "  must"  to  them  has  spoken,  as  far  as  He 
has  spoken,  entirely  the  other  way. 

"  And  what  is  the  remedy  ?"  Do  you  really 
wish  to  know,  dear  reader  ? 

"  Yes."  Then  gather  up  all  the  idols,  and 
go  out  and  bury  them.  Bring  out  Agag  and 
and  all  the  bleating  flocks  he  owned,  and  de- 
stroy them.  "  Little  children,  what  have  you 
to  do  any  more  with  idols?"  They  blind 
your  mind,  sear  your  conscience,  harden  your 
heart,  and  hinder  your  progress. 

Go  to  your  Bible  now,  and  learn  from  it 
how  God  wishes  you  to  follow  the  Lord  fully, 


272    HINDRANCES  TO  PERSONAL  RELIGION. 

like  Caleb,  and  to  be  faithful  unto  death. 
Consider  what  a  change  it  would  make  in  the 
frame  of  your  mind  and  the  tenor  of  your  life 
.to  begin  "  following  the  Lord  fully."  There 
are  "tricks  of  trade"  to  be  practised  no  more  • 
enervating  indulgences  to  be  given  up  ;  secret 
aims  to  be  foregone ;  cherished  friends  to  be 
dealt  faithfully  with  or  quitted  ;  influential  sin 
ners,  at  whose  sins  you  must  wink  no  more ; 
old  jealousies  to  be  buried  ;  old  grudges  to  be 
forgotten  and  turned  into  kindliness ;  old  sins 
to  be  confessed ;  old  wrongs  to  be  honestly 
and  fairly  repaired.  Go  to  your  Bible,  and 
get  a  better  acquaintance  with  it.  Learn  its 
elements  —  open  your  heart  to  its  lessons  — 
master  its  meaning  by  doing  as  it  bids  you. 
You  must  then  grow  in  grace,  for  you  are  be- 
lieving in  Jesus,  and  consequently  loving  him, 
and  consequently  keeping  His  command- 
ments. You  are  breathing  a  pure  air,  eating 
nutritious  food,  and  getting  regular  and  suit- 
able exercise.  Your  spiritual  being  must 
grow. 

And  now  your  religion  no  longer  hampers 
you.     Instead  of  being  fetters  to  bind  you,  it 


HINDRANCES  TO  PERSONAL  RELIGION.    273 

is  now  tools  to  work,  and  weapons  to  fight 
with.  You  had  up  till  now  religion  enough 
to  spoil  your  pleasure  as  a  worldling,  but  not 
enough  to  satisfy  your  soul's  cravings.  How 
hard  you  have  had  to  wink  not  to  see  certain 
reproofs  in  the  Bible,  and  certain  sins  in 
yourself  and  others  !  It  is  so  no  more.  Con- 
science is  at  rest ;  you  need  not  to  hide  from 
God  amid  formal  duties  and  busy  occupa- 
tions ;  faith  is  not  afraid  to  grasp  the  prom- 
ises and  hold  them  up  to  the  mouth  of  hope 
that  they  may  be  eaten  ;  all  the  Bible  is  wel- 
come to  you ;  all  work  that  God  appoints  is 
grateful ;  and  every  step  you  take  is  a  step 
nearer  His  presence,  where  is  fulness  of  joy. 
Your  religion  brings  some  gladness  now ; 
you  inherit  now  as  disciples  under  Him  who 
said,  "  Peace  I  leave  with  you,  my  peace  I 
give  unto  you." 

And  now  there  will  be  power.  "  There  is 
reality  in  Ids  religion,"  says  the  man  who 
does  business  with  you,  "  he  is  as  honest  as 
the  sun."  "  There  is  something  in  his  godli- 
ness," says  your  associate,  "  you  might  trust 
your  life  to  him  ;  he  is  true  as  steel."  "  There 
12* 


274    HINDRANCES  TO  PERSONAL  RELIGTON. 

is  more  than  talk  here,"  says  your  servant; 
"  he  keeps  down  his  temper,  and  bridles  his 
tongue."  "  He  is  a  man  of  principle,"  says, 
perhaps,  some  hoary  sinner,  "  his  religion  is 
not  a  thing  of  words  and  impulse ;  I  have 
known  him  these  twenty  years,  and  he  was 
always  the  same."  So  you  will  have  power 
to  do  good,  to  silence  gainsa)^ers,  to  witness 
or  Christ. 


DISCRIMINATION   IN   TEACHING 
THE  TRUTH. 


CCORDING  to  the  Apostle  Paul, 
ministers  are  bound  rightly  to  di- 
vide the  word  of  truth, — that  is,  to 
present  tlie  right  truth  to  the  several 
classes  of  hearers,  and  so  to  instruct  them 
that  truths  shall  lie  in  their  minds  as  nearly 
as  possible  in  the  relations  and  proportions 
in  which  they  appear  in  the  Scriptures. 

This  canon  is  violated  in  at  least  three 
ways,  which  we  shall  state  and  exemplify,  not 
as  if  we  were  exhausting  this  subject,  for  only 
a  small  part  of  it  can  be  compressed  within 
the  limits  of  a  paper. 

I.  It  is  violated  by  exaggerating  particular 
truths.  As  in  the  human  body  the  members 
are  set  over  one  against  another,  and  pnpor- 

(275) 


276  DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING  TRUTH. 

tioned  the  one  to  the  other,  so  it  is  in  the 
body  of  revealed  truth:  all  portions  of  it  are 
important  in  their  place,  but  all  are  not  equal- 
ly important.  The  question,  whether  or  not 
blood  may  be  eaten,  as  raised  in  Acts  xv.,  is 
very  different  from  that  which  the  jailer  put  in 
Acts  xvi.  Now,  whenever  any  member  of 
the  body  of  truth  is  over-estimated  in  its  im- 
portance, more  spoken  of  and  thought  of  than 
its  relative  importance  justifies,  this  principle 
is  violated.  It  is  the  misfortune  of  small  and 
struggling  bodies  of  Christians  to  be  tempted 
to  this  exaggeration.  They  have  gone  out, 
or  kept  out,  from  other  and  larger  bodies. 
The  points  on  which  they  rest  the  defence  of 
their  isolation  become  all-important  to  them, 
and  are  so  dwelt  upon  and  contemplated  that 
they  come  to  fill  up  the  sphere  of  vision.  As 
the  biographer  of  an  obscure  individual,  to 
justify  his  book-making,  is  tempted  to  magnify 
the  importance  of  his  subject,  so  these  bodies 
are  tempted  to  swell  the  importance  of  those 
fragments  of  truth  to  which  they  conceive 
themselves  necessary  witnesses.  Many  sec- 
ondary questions  that  might  be  named,  have 


DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING    TRUTB.  277 

thus  in  some  instances  acquired  an  undue 
prominence  in  the  thoughts,  sermons,  and  re- 
lationships of  Christian  communities.  It  is  not 
that  they  fail  to  hold  the  truth,  but  they  dis- 
proportionately exalt  their  respective  points 
because  they  are  distinctive.  But  great  com- 
munities may,  and  do,  err  in  a  precisely  simi- 
lar way,  when,  it  may  be,  peculiar  circum- 
stances lend  interest  to  a  particular  part  of 
their  creed.  When  large  bodies  of  Noncon- 
formists began  to  rear  themselves  alongside 
the  Church  in  England,  it  was  not  unnatural 
that  her  ministers  should  dwell  disproportion- 
ately on  tJie  Church,  contrasting,  more  or  less 
openly,  her  antiquity,  her  position,  and  her 
long-established  forms,  with  the  newer  or- 
ganizations that  offended  or  alarmed  them. 
The  tendency  was  natural,  and  the  mischief 
was  extensive  and  real. 

Where  rival  churches  are  divided  by  specific 
points,  the  same  result  is  produced.  A  piece 
of  ground,  worthless  in  itself,  is  in  dispute 
between  two  rival  proprietors,  and  it  seems 
more  to  them  than  half  their  estates.  A  mis- 
erable town  lies  on  the  borders  of  two  kinjj- 


278    DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING  TRUTH. 

doms,  and  more  attention  is  concentrated  on 
it  than  on  either  capital,  because  it  is  a  border 
town.  And  so  it  has  often  happened  with  por- 
tions of  truth  between  contending  churches. 
Whether  Easter  should  be  observed  at  one 
period  or  another  seems  a  small  affair  to  us, 
who  raise  the  previous  question,  Should  it  be 
observed  at  all  ?  but  we  do  not  forget  how, 
when  the  atonement  and  pardon  through 
the  blood,  and  renewing  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
were  comparatively  forgotten,  this  miserable 
dispute  divided  the  Eastern  and  Western 
churches. 

Against  all  such  exaggeration  we  must 
guard,  for  it  contains  the  very  essence  of  sec- 
tarianism. There  are  leading  and  fundamen- 
tal truths  in  God's  Word  by  which  men's 
souls  live.  He  who  holds  these  is  one  with 
us,  in  whatever  subordinate  points  he  is  at 
war  with  us.  And  it  would  be  preposterous — 
would  it  not  ? — that  we  should  give  our  sym- 
pathy to  a  Socinian  because  he  calls  himself 
by  our  distinctive  name,  say,  Presbyterian, 
and  refuse  it  to  an  evangelical  believer  be- 
cause he  declines  the  name  ;  yet  this  is  being 


DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING  TRUTH.    279 

done  practically  every  day.  And  in  no  way 
could  the  devil  more  effectually  defeat  our 
aims  as  ministers  than  by  raising  minor  issues 
with  which  unduly  to  occupy  us,  to  the  prac- 
tical disregard  of  the  great  truths  which  God 
is  wont  to  bless  to  the  salvation  of  men. 
When  our  Lord  was  dealing  with  the  con- 
science of  the  woman  of  Samaria,  she  would 
gladly  have  turned  aside  to  discuss  the  points 
in  dispute  between  Jews  and  Samaritans ;  but 
our  Lord  held  on  to  the  main  business — her 
own  need  of  salvation,  and  His  willingness  to 
bestow  it,  and  we  know  the  result.  So  let 
us,  as  approved  workmen,  rightly  divide  the 
word  of  truth. 

2.  TJiis  canon  is  violated  by  the  overlooking  of 
truth.  Various  causes  contribute  to  this  er- 
ror. Romanism  made  angels  mediators,  and 
gave  them  the  power  of  hearing  prayer.  Prot- 
estantism has  hardly  touched  the  subject  oi 
angels.  Romanism  opened  a  debtor  and  cred- 
itor account  with  heaven,  and  Protestantism 
is  silent  regarding  the  reward  the  Lord  gives 
to  His  people  whom  His  grace  has  saved. 
We  are  not  sure  if  we,  in  avoiding  church 


2 So   DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING  TRUTH. 

preaching,  be  not  overlooking  an  important 
Scripture  truth  which  our  people  should 
hear,  and  forgetting  the  true  cJmrcJi  autJiority, 
because  the  thing  has  been  misstated  and 
abused.  Many  are  the  forms  in  which  the 
presentation  of  one  truth  may  be  marred  by 
overlooking  a  kindred  or  related  truth.  In 
preparation  for  the  pulpit,  men  may  so  em- 
ploy the  promise  of  help  from  the  Holy  Ghost 
as  to  forego  the  use  of  those  means  by  which 
such  addresses  are  rendered  effective,  and  so 
forget  that,  here  as  elsewhei-e,  it  is  not  indo- 
lence and  recklessness,  but  effort,  that  the 
Lord  will  bless.  So,  when  we  preach  the 
doctrine  of  regeneration,  and  declare  the  im- 
possibility of  men  being  saved,  or  doing  any 
good,  until  they  have  been  the  subjects  of 
this  mysterious  change,  we  weaken  our  own 
hands  if  we  connect  not  with  this  the  state- 
ment that  the  Lord  does  regenerate  by  reveal- 
ing Christ  to  us,  and  therein  revealing  Him- 
self. How  short  a  way  do  we  carry  a  hearer 
if  we  prove  to  him  that  men  are  born,  "  not 
of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of 
the  will  of  man,  but  of  God  ;"  and  if  we  dis- 


DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING  TRUTH.    281 

connect  this  truth  from  that  with  which  the 
Lord  has  connected  it — "  As  many  as  received 
Him  to  them  gave  He  power  to  become  the 
sons  of  God,  even  to  as  many  as  beUeve  on 
His  name."  John  i.  12,  13.  It  was  thus  our 
Lord  taught  Nicodcmus.  Having  announced 
to  him  that  "  except  a  man  be  born  from 
above  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  heaven," 
He  did  not  leave  him  in  the  blank  and  utter 
helplessness  produced  by  such  a  statement, 
but  proceeded  to  proclaim  Himself  as  the  sav- 
ing Son  of  Man,  through  a  believing  look  to 
whom  the  new  birth  is  effected — '^  As  Moses 
lifted  up,""  &.C.  (John  iii.)  So,  in  the  laudable 
desire  to  save  our  people  from  a  legal  spirit, 
and  to  make  clear  conveyance  to  them  of  the 
terms  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  we  must  not 
overlook  the  truth,  that,  having  been  pardon- 
ed and  adopted,  our  Divine  Father's  law  be- 
comes the  rule  of  our  life,  in  obedience  to 
which  we  walk  and  glorify  Him.  So,  in  our 
laudable  efforts  to  show  the  reasonableness  of 
the  demands  of  revelation,  we  may  overlook 
the  fact  that  the  truth  is  to  be  received,  not 
because   we  have  proved  its  reasonableness,  but 


282   DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING  TRUTH. 

because  God  has  declared  it.  Our  demon- 
stration may  be  weak,  and  it  were  sad  indeed 
if  God's  demands  were  made  to  seem  corre- 
spondingly feeble. 

Even  so  we  may  preach,  in  the  matter  of 
experimental  religion,  the  doctrine  of  faith, 
and  overlook  the  kindred  doctrine  of  repent- 
ance, and  so  lead  men  unconsciously  into  the 
belief  that  there  is  in  the  Divine  life  one  dis- 
stinct  stage  of  repenting  and  another  of  be- 
lieving. Other  instances  might  easily  be  ad- 
duced, in  which  we  may  weaken  our  power, 
give  trouble  to  ourselves  and  to  our  hearers 
by  overlooking  truths  which  have  been  in- 
tended to  accompany  other  truths — truths 
which  are  to  one  another  as  the  opposite  and 
yet  harmonious  powers — -the  centrifugal  and 
centripetal  forces  that  keep  planets  in  their 
orbits — and  the  due  and  combined  action  of 
which  keeps  us  in  the  way  of  safety. 

3.  In  the  third  place  we  violate  the  canon 
by  misplacing  truths.  A  man  may  preach  so 
that  you  could  not  point  out  a  single  error  in 
his  statements,  taken  separately,  and  yet  he  may 
so  preach  that  the  combined  effort  of  the  whole 


DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING  TRUTH.   283 

will  be  substantially  to  mislead.  Truth  out 
of  place  is  often  a  dangerous  error.  It  is  true 
that  man's  soul  is  dead,  and  his  heart  utterly 
alienated  from  God.  It  is  true  that  there 
never  will  be  a  movement  of  the  soul  God- 
ward  unless  by  a  power  that  comes  from  God. 
But  to  whom  is  this  to  be  preached  ?  Is  it  to 
the  inquiring-  and  anxious  soul  ?  What  can  it 
do  to  him  but  paralyze  him,  when  he  wants  to 
be  encouraged  to  come  to  the  Lord  as  a  lov- 
ing, gracious  Saviour,  when  he  is  to  stretch 
out  the  withered  hand,  that  it  may  be  healed 
in  the  act?  But  if  we  are  speaking  to  self- 
confident  sinners,  blindly  putting  off,  or  pre- 
suming on  their  own  strength,  who  need  to 
be  paralyzed,  deliberately  rejecting  and  cavil- 
ling against  Him,  then  let  us  say  to  them  as 
Christ  did — "  Murmur  not  among  yourselves. 
No  man  can  come  unto  me  except  my  Father 
which  hath  sent  me,  draw  him."  John  vi.  44. 
If  that  God,  whom  you  deliberately  insult,  do 
not  please  to  draw  you,  you  shall  never  come. 
You  shall  die  in  your  sins ! 

It  would  be  an  interesting  thing  to  inquire 
in  what  connections  the  doctrine  of  election  is 


2S4   DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING  TRUTH. 

presented  in  the  Divine  Word,  and  to  regu- 
late our  presentation  of  it  accordingly.  We 
should  find  that  it  is  introduced  to  cut  off 
all  hope  of  salvation  by  works,  to  account 
for,  without  excusing,  Jewish  unbelief,  and 
to  show  the  certainty  of  Christ's  purpose 
being  fully  accomplished,  however  men  or 
devils  might  oppose  and  resist.  Thus  used, 
it  humbles  pride,  gives  God  all  the  glory,  and 
cuts  the  ground  from  under  the  feet  of  pre- 
sumption ;  but  otherwise  understood  and  pre- 
sented, it  can  only  minister  to  pride  and  most 
repulsive  vanity,  as  it  did  with  the  Jews, 
when,  presuming  on  being  an  elect  nation, 
they  said,  "  We  be  Abraham's  seed."  The 
best  things  abused,  become  the  worst,  and  we 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  this  pre- 
cious doctrine  has  been  abused  by  its  well- 
meaning  but  ignorant  friends,  and  become 
too  often  not  a  help,  but  a  hindrance,  to  the 
spread  of  truth,  and  the  glorifying  of  Christ. 

It  is  sometimes  objected  against  believers 
asking  pardon  of  sin  at  the  Lord's  hand,  that 
they  are  already  forgiven,  and  need  not  ask  it. 
But  thousrh  God  forsfives  once  and  for  ever 


DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING  TRUTH.   2^5 

as  a  Judge,  He  forgives  often  as  a  Father. 
"  But,"  it  is  sometimes  said,  *'  He  forgave  you 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago,"  referring  to 
Christ  bearing  our  sins  on  the  tree.  But  this 
is  a  grievous  misplacing  of  truth.  This  were 
an  equally  good  reason  for  never  asking  for- 
giveness. Beside,  why  say  eighteen  hundred 
years?  As  well  six  thousand  years,  for  is  not 
Christ  "  the  L,amb  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world?"  Nay,  as  well  might  the  objector 
say  eighteen  thousand  years,  for  God  has 
loved  us  ''  with  an  everlasting  love ;"  but  in 
point  of  fact  He  justifies  us  ivhen  ive  believe, 
and  renews  the  sense  of  his  pardon  when  we 
return  to  Him  at  the  throne  of  grace,  and 
take  a  believing  look  at  the  Saviour. 

It  is  by  a  like  displacement  of  truth  that 
Christians  painfully  engage  themselves  in 
weighing,  measuring  every  feeling  within 
them,  analyzing  and  noting  it,  in  order  to 
growth  in  grace,  applying  to  themselves  the 
machinery  which  the  word  provides  for  de- 
tecting and  exposing  hypocrisy,  when  they 
would  be  better  employed  in  believing  the 
simple  promises,  and  doing  the  revealc'd  du- 


286  DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING  TRUTH. 

ties — going  out  of  themselves,  and  concentrat- 
ing their  thoughts  on  the  Saviour,  whose 
righteousness  covers,  and  whose  spirit  in- 
structs in  the  way  of  peace.  And  we  cannot 
but  think  they  misplace  truth  who  make  a 
large  portion  of  their  teaching  to  consist  of 
the  exposition  of  unfulfilled  prophecy ; — not 
so  did  our  Lord  teach  men,  and  not  so  did  the 
apostles.  Both  did  indeed  appeal  to  prophe- 
cies/z^Z/f/Z^^^,  and  both  did  give  new  predic- 
tions, as  our  Lord  did  of  his  betrayal  by  Ju- 
das, and  his  ascension,  with  this  notice  of  the 
reason — "  And  now  I  have  told  you  before  it 
come  to  pass,  tJiat  zvJicn  it  is  come  to  pass,  ye 
may  believe."  (John  xiv.  29,  and  John  xiii. 
19.)  If  this  pre-eminent  regard  to  prophecy, 
for  which  some  good  men  claim  so  peculiar  a 
sanctifying  power,  produced  on  themselves 
any  conspicuous  effects ;  if  their  life  and  la- 
bors were  marked  by  pre-eminent  spiritual- 
ity and  success,  we  might  indeed  hesitate  be- 
fore declining  to  follow  their  guidance ;  but 
as  it  is,  we  cannot  but  think  that  they,  apart 
altogether  from  the  soundness  or  otherwise 
of  their  interpretations,  misplace  this  portion 


DISCRIMINATION  IN  TEACHING  TRUTH.   287 

of  truth,  mistake  its  great  use,  and  largely 
apply  it  to  purposes  for  which  it  was  not  in- 
tended. 

These  are  illustrations  that  might  be  easily 
multiplied  of  the  evil  of  misplacing  truth. 
One  good  thing,  so  perverted,  may  vitiate  all 
the  truth  we  know,  as  Paul  said  to  the  Gala- 
tians,  "  Christ  is  become  of  none  effect  unto 
you,  if  ye  be  circumcised,"  or  as  Moses  and 
the  law  became  a  snare  to  the  Jews  when  un- 
der cover  of  zeal  for  them,  they  rejected  the 
Redeemer. 


plain  questions  for  men's 
'''consciences. 


RE  YOU  IN  Christ  or  not?  Per- 
haps you  have  not  thought  of  this, 
or  allowed  the  question  ever  to  come 
to  your  heart.  Feeling  it  to  be  em- 
barrassing and  troublesome,  you  have  done 
with  it  as  we  sometimes  do  with  curious 
friends  who  put  awkward  questions,  to  whom, 
by  our  own  volubility,  we  give  no  time  to 
make  inconvenient  inquiries.  Perhaps  you 
have  kept  your  heart  or  conscience — that  is, 
yourself — so  engaged  as  to  keep  this  ques- 
tion away.  Pray  consider  it  now.  Are  you 
a  believer  in  Christ  or  not  ?  Some  are  be- 
lievers who  do  not  clearly  know  it,  but  none, 
surely,  who  never  thought  of  it.     If  you  had 

to  die  at  a  moment's  warning,  as  men  have 
(288) 


PLAIN  QUESTIONS.  289 

died  in  the  railway  collision,  or  by  a  fall  from 
a  horse,  would  your  soul,  having  made  its  dis- 
tant flight  into  another  world,  be  in  bliss  or 
woe  ?  Had  you  been  on  board  that  ill-fated 
steamer,  the  London,  when  she  went  down 
in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  with  the  crowd  of 
men,  women,  and  little  wondering  children, 
could  you  have  said,  as  the  waters  gathered 
over  you,  "  I  am  in  Christ,  and  I  shall  soon  be 
with  Christ?"  The  deluge  is  coming  to  you  ; 
are  you  in  the  ark  ?  The  avenger  is  on  your 
track ;  are  you  in  the  city  of  refuge  ?  The 
Judge  standeth  at  the  door ;  have  you  arrang- 
ed with  the  Advocate  ?  Answer  this  question 
to  your  own  conscience.  Better  have  to  say 
"  No,"  than  not  to  think  at  all.  For  you  to 
say  to  yourself  **  I  am  yet  unsaved,"  would 
do  you  good.  Oh  !  how  can  you  go  to  sleep 
in  peace  and  know  this  ?  Let  but  a  mem- 
brane, as  thin  as  the  leaf  of  paper  you  are 
reading,  give  way  in  the  night,  and  your  sleep 
shall  be  the  sleep  of  death,  and  your  soul 
shall  be  in  an  eternity  for  which  you  never 
prepared !  But  oh !  how  happy  if  you  can 
say,  like  a  good  man  who  was  "  in  deaths  oft," 
13 


2go  PLAIN  QUESTIONS. 

I  am  "  in  Him,  not  having  mine  own  right- 
eousness, which  is  of  the  law,  but  that  which 
is  through  the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteous- 
ness which  is  of  God  by  faith." 

2.  Are  you  gaining  or  losing  as  a  Christian  ? 
Having  come  to  Christ,  and  been,  as  you 
hope,  forgiven,  are  you  advancing  or  reced- 
ing ?  When  the  Apostle  Paul  had  been  long 
a  believer,  he  wished  to  "  know  Christ,"  from 
intercourse  and  fellowship  with  Him,  from 
Christ  being  "  manifested"  to  him.  Is  this 
your  wish  in  the  main.  Do  you  watch  and 
resist  those  things  which  keep  Him  away  ? 
Have  you  a  deepening  attachment  to  Jesus  ? 
Is  your  religion  more  and  more  in  the  form 
of  steady  principle,  .less  and  less  of  a  fitful 
impulse  ?  How  can  you  be  sure  your  soul  is 
living,  if  it  is  not  growing  ?  It  may  turn  out, 
after  all,  that  you  are  only  deceiving  yourself! 
You  may  be,  after  all,  but  a  child  of  hell, 
walking  in  the  light,  as  described  in  Isaiah  50  : 
11:  "Behold,  all  ye  that  kindle  a  fire,  that 
compass  yourselves  about  with  sparks  ;  walk 
in  the  light  of  your  fire  and  of  the  sparks 
that  ye  hav^  kindled.     This  shall  ye  have  of 


PLAIN  QUESTIONS.  291 

mine  hand:  ye  shall  lie  down  in  sorrow."  O 
reader  !  settle  this  question  rightly.  It  would 
be  an  awful  thing  to  find  out  on  the  other 
side  of  death  that  your  one  life  was  gone  for 
ever,  and  that  the  hope  you  held  was  a  delu- 
sion !  Are  you  growing  in  religion  ?  Or, 
"  having  a  name  to  live,"  are  you  growing  in 
contented  religious  deadness — your  peace,  no 
peace  ? 

3.  Are  you  serving  the  Lord  or  servmg 
yourself?  "  I  am  a  Sabbath-school  teacher." 
Yes,  but  that  may  be  serving  yourself.  *'  I 
am  a  minister."  That  also  may  be  serving 
yourself.  "  I  am  an  active  elder."  That,  too, 
may  be  serving  yourself.  Are  you  serving 
Christ  ?  Would  you  go  on  with  this  Chris- 
tian work  if  you  were  discouraged,  hurt,  neg- 
lected by  men,  and  do  it  for  Christ's  sake  ? 
Is  it  the  authority  of  Christ  over  you  that 
keeps  you  at  your  post  ?  Or  is  it  regard  for 
any  other  person  or  thing  ?  There  is  much 
need  to  look  into  this,  We  constantly  see 
active  persons  throw  up  their  work  in  disgust. 
"  I  shall  not  serve  them  if  they  pay  so  little 
attention  to  me."     Just  so.     It  was  not  Christ 


292  PLAIN  QUESTIONS. 

you  were  serving,  then  ?  "I  shall  let  them 
see  how  they  can  do  without  me?"  Ah  !  yes  ; 
but  the  Lord  ?  He  may  have  need  of  you. 
When  ministers  were  active  as  poor  men,  and 
sought  dignified  leisure  when  they  became 
rich ;  when  persons  were  zealous  laborers  till 
they  were  married,  and  then  dropped  out  of 
the  ranks ;  when  they  "  labored  abundantly" 
till  they  had  got  a  position,  and  then  saw  it 
to  be  their  duty  to  retire  into  inactivity,  what 
can  men  think  but  that  they  were  serving 
themselves?  Are  you  serving  Christ  or  your- 
self? If  the  latter,  you  will  need  to  be 
"  managed,"  complimented,  to  get  little  sops 
of  honor  or  advantage  to  keep  you  up  to  the 
work.  If  the  former,  you  will  proceed  "  as 
to  the  Lord,"  calm,  steady,  noiseless,  like  a  star 
in  its  orbit,  for  the  Great  Master  in  the  midst 
attracts  and  retains  you.  Oh,  the  quiet,  har- 
mony, and  joy  of  a  company  of  people  serv- 
ing the  Lord  !  Oh,  the  painful  friction,  erratic 
movements,  and  threatening  collisions  of  a 
company  of  people  serving  themselves  ! 

Which  are  you    doing  ?     If  the  latter,  and 
you  repent  not,  you  are  sure  to  be  lost.     You 


PLAIN  QUESTIONS.  293 

may  be  exposed  and  disgraced  in  this  world, 
but  you  are  sure  to  be  cast  out  in  the  next 
world  ! 

4.  Are  you  on  the  Lord's  side,  or  with  His 
enemies  ?  There  are  good  men  who  straggle 
out  of  their  own  proper  camp  in  ignorance  or 
thoughtlessness,  as  there  are  bad  who  creep 
into  the  camp  of  the  saints.  Where  are  you  ? 
Which  party  is  strengthened  by  you  ?  Which 
party  can  count  on  you  ?  Or  can  either  ? 
Then  you  are  in  a  bad  condition,  indeed. 
You  are  with  the  Lord  on  Sabbath,  and  Mam- 
mon has  you  all  the  week.  You  are  at  the 
Lord's  table,  and  fashion  enlists  you  at  the 
card-table  or  the  dance  the  next  week  ! 

"  But  I  don't  see  anything  wrong  in  cards 
or  a  dance."  I  am  not  asking  about  the 
right  or  wrong  of  the  thing,  mind.  I  am 
asking  on  whose  side  are  yoii  ?  Are  you  for 
the  Master  or  His  despisers  ?  If  you  can 
honestly  say,  ''  I  am  for  Christ  at  the  card- 
table,"  I  do  not  expostulate  with  you.  Your 
head  or  your  heart,  in  its  present  state,  is  not 
ready  for  the  discussion.  If  the  Lord  has 
purposes  of  mercy  for  you,  He  is  likely  to  lay 


294  PLAIN  QUESTIONS. 

His  hand  on  you,  and  in  new  circumstances 
you  will  get  new  light.  For  there  is  that 
"  flattereth  himself  in  his  own  eyes,  until  his 
iniquity  be  found  to  be  hateful,"  as  you  may 
see  in  the  36th  Psalm.  Are  you  on  the  Lord's 
side  ?  A  blameless,  useless  professor  is  not 
on  His  side.  He  is  a  tempter  and  a  snare. 
A  self-seeking,  proud,  vain  person,  who  pat- 
ronises Christ's  cause  is  not  on  his  side.  His 
money,  name,  and  even  his  effects  may  be  oc- 
casionally on  His  side.  He  may  give  "  the 
favor  of  his  presence"  now  and  then  to  the 
Master's  cause,  but  he  may  be  all  the  time 
under  the  curse  that  overhangs  every  man 
who  does  not  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  "  I 
never  knew  you,"  the  Lord  will  say  to  all 
such  if  they  repent  not.  "  Who  is  on  the 
Lord's  side  —  who?"  A  luxurious,  money- 
making,  self-indulgent  age  thinks  to  serve 
God  and  also  Mammon — to  live  with  Pharaoh 
and  be  of  Israel — to  keep  the  doors  of  God's 
house  (with  subscriptions,  and  donations,  and 
"  very  regular  attendance,  when  convenient," 
for  example),  and  at  the  same  time  to  dwell 
in  tents  of  wickedness.     The  thing  cannot  be 


PLAIN  QUESTIONS.  295 

done  :  it  is  impossible.  If  you  are  not  with 
Christ,  you  are  against  Him,  though  you 
preach,  and  prophesy,  and  pray ;  and  if  you 
do  not  repent,  your  "  own  company"  will 
claim  you  in  "  the  congregation  of  the  dead." 
Oh  !  Consider  this  question.  If  you  can 
find  it  in  your  heart  to  be  good  friends  with 
what  Christ  hates,  it  may  be  that  you  never 
became  one  with  Him — never  were  convert- 
ed— never  were  made  a  new  creature  in  Christ 
Jesus.  If  you  had  faith  like  Moses,  you  would 
be  something  like  him.  If  you  were  in  Christ, 
you  would  walk  after  the  Spirit,  and  not  after 
the  flesh.  Take  care  lest  you  be  among  the 
castaways.  Oh  !  if  you  only  knew  how  the 
reckless  professors  and  those  whose  calling 
commits  them  to  religion — such  as  minist'^rs 
and  elders  —  are  regarded,  when  they  forget 
themselves — when,  for  example,  a  minister  is 
excited  by  drink,  or  plainly  cares  nothing  for 
his  office  —  you  might,  in  the  contempt  with 
which  common  people,  and  the  grief  with 
which  pious  people  watch  them,  see  in  some 
dim  way  the  vileness  and  guiltiness  of  your 
ways,  when  you  soil  your  garments  and  de 


296  PLAIN  QUESTIONS. 

grade  your  exalted  name.  Look  into  this,  and 
see  that  you  are  consistently,  wholly,  and 
heartily  on  the  Lord's  side. 

5.  Are  you  as  fervent,  zealous,  and  earnest  in 
your  secret  religious  exercises  as  in  those  you 
perform  in  concert  with  others  ?  For,  what 
you  are  alone  with  God,  that  you  are  really. 
If  you  only  feel  in  a  crowd,  it  may  turn  out 
that  when  you  have  to  die  alone  you  will  have 
no  religion  to  sustain  you !  Look  to  this. 
No  religion  is  worth  keeping  that  is  not  a  re- 
ligion to  die  with. 


ARE  BELIEVERS  UNDER  THE  LAW? 


I  ME  was  when  God  alone  existed, 
when  above,  below,  there  was  noth- 
ing but  God.  He  filled  all,  as  light 
now  does  the  firmament ;  pervaded 
all,  as  gravitation  now  does  all  space.  There 
was  none  to  honor  or  dishonor  Him,  none  to 
obey  or  disobey.  One's  mind  reels  in  trying 
to  comprehend  this,  and  one's  eyes  look  back 
dimly  into  that  far-off  silent  everlasting,  with 
only  the  Great  First  Cause,  infinitely  happy 
in  Himself. 

Then  was  made  a  heaven,  and  angels  were 
formed  to  people  it.  They  are  so  far  like 
God  that  they  are  intelligent  and  holy ;  their 
nature  is,  moreover,  spiritual.  The  Bible  is 
not  a  book  for  angels,  but  for  us  ;  therefore  it 


13^ 


(^-97) 


29S       AHE  BELIEVERS  UNDER  THE  LAW? 

details  the  doings  of  angels  just  so  far  as  they 
affect  us  ;  therefore  we  cannot  do  more  than 
idly  conjecture  how  angels  served  before 
there  were  fellow-creatures  with  whom  to  be 
occupied.  But,  from  a  king  to  a  subject, 
command  is  the  natural  form  of  communica- 
tion, and  obedience  is  the  natural  response. 
Being  holy,  the  angels  love  the  infinitely 
Holy  One,  their  Maker,  their  Father ;  and 
He  could  say  to  them,  sure  of  a  prompt  and 
joyous  rejoinder — "  If  ye  love  Me,  keep  My 
commandments."  A  portion  of  them  rebel- 
led against  His  authority,  lost  their  first  es- 
tate, and  have  been  consigned  to  chains  and 
darkness ;  but  the  rest  have  continued  to 
yield  homage  and  service  to  Him,  They 
love  Him  still,  and  continue  to  keep  His 
commandments,  whether  He  require  them  to 
waste  a  land  or  fill  it  with  grief,  to  deliver  a 
saint  or  breathe  death  over  a  sleeping  host, 
to  minister  to  Christ  in  His  sorrows  or  carry 
the  spirit  of  a  Lazarus  to  heaven. 

In  due  time  man  was  made.  He  bore  on 
his  soul  the  image  of  God  ;  he  was  like  Him 
in  knowledge  and  purity,  and  like  Him  in 


ARE  BELIEVERS  UNDER  THE  LAW?       299 

ruling  the  inferior  creatures.  In  innocence, 
man  was  under  God's  law,  whether  we  under- 
stand by  law  the  general  will  of  God  or  the 
special  commands  He  is  pleased  to  issue.  To 
test  this  assertion,  inquire  which  of  the  ten 
awful  words  given  at  Sinai,  amid  the  over- 
powering display  of  the  Law-giver's  majesty 
would  it  have  been  right  for  man  to  disre- 
gard ?  Could  he,  with  impunity,  have  set  up 
an  idol  or  shaped  his  service  as  he  pleased  ? 
Would  profaneness  on  his  lips  have  been  ex- 
cusable, or  Sabbath  toil  allowable  ?  Might 
He  whom  Luke  calls  "  the  Son  of  God"  dis- 
regard His  Father,  kill  or  pollute  His  kind, 
steal  or  covet  ?  The  question  answers  itself 
"  But,"  you  may  say,  "  these  laws  were  not 
then  written?"  Why  not?  Because  they 
were  not  binding  ?  Certainly  not ;  but  be- 
cause they  were  so  obviously  plain,  so  in- 
stinctively felt  to  be  binding,  that  the  writing 
of  them  was  needless.  What  father  or  moth- 
er binds  a  child,  by  an  express  command,  not 
to  kill  a  sister,  or  set  the  house  on  fire,  or 
swallow  poison,  or  burn  a  Bible  ?  The  wrong 
is  so  obvious  that  the  mind  can  be  trusted  to 


300       ARE  BELIEVERS  UNDER  THE  LAW? 

see  it  without  formal  announcement.  But 
man  was  under  law,  and  the  forbidden  tree 
was  the  outward  and  sacramental  sign  of 
obedience.  God  could  have  said  to  man  in 
Eden — "  If  ye  love  Me,  keep  My  command-] 
ments." 

"  But,"  says  some  friend,  "  is  not  law  a 
yoke?  Are  not  commandments  a  burden? 
Is  it  not  the  death  of  all  liberty  and  enjoyment 
to  be  under  law  ?"  The  ceremonial  law  was 
a  burden  to  the  Hebrews,  as  Paul  says  to  the 
Galatians  (v.  i),  and  service  of  God  as  the 
price  of  heaven  is  in  "  the  spirit  of  bondage  " 
(Rom.  viii.  15).  But  these  must  not  be  con- 
founded (alas,  that  they  are  so  often  !)  with 
subjection  to  that  law  of  God  which  is  the 
formal  expression  of  the  Divine  mind,  and 
which  Paul  says  (Rom.  vii.  12)  is  holy,  just 
and  good.  To  a  loving  wife,  is  the  law  of 
obedience  irksome?  To  a  loyal  subject,  is 
his  loyalty  a  burden?  To  a  dutiful  son,  is 
his  father's  wish  a  grievous  and  heavy  yoke  ? 
There  are  those  to  whom  the  marriage  vow 
is  a  fetter,  and  the  oath  of  allegiance  an  abom- 
ination, and  the  duty  of  a  child  repugnant, 


ARE  BELIEVERS  UNDER  THE  LAW?       301 

but  they  are  the  iinprincipied,  the  disloyal, 
and  the  disobedient.  But  angels  in  heaven, 
happy  in  obedience,  and  man  in  Eden,  happy 
in  innocence,  prove  conclusively  enough  that 
submission  to  law,  to  the  virtuous  and  up- 
right is  no  hardship  ''  Oh  !  how  I  love  Thy 
law  !  it  is  my  meditation  all  the  day."  This 
is  the  principle  of  a  holy  creature. 

But  man  fell,  and,  in  his  fall,  his  under- 
standing was  darkened,  his  conscience  was 
defiled,  and  his  heart  was  turned  away  from 
God.  The  Divine  mercy,  however,  came  to 
his  relief,  and  a  covenant  was  made.  Sacri- 
fices were  appointed,  and  worship  enjoined. 
The  Divine  will  was  declared.  Man  was  to 
look  to  the  coming  Seed,  and  to  sacrifice  in 
the  spirit  of  believing  obedience.  Abel  did 
so,  and  was  accepted  ;  Cain  did  not  and  was 
rejected.  And  again  God  can  say  to  man — 
"  If  ye  love  Me,  keep  My  commandments," 
and  Abel,  Seth,  Enoch,  Noah,  and  all  the  rest 
of  their  kind,  the  gray  fathers  of  our  race,  could 
reply  with  an  honest  and  good  heart — "  We  do 
love  Thee,  and  we  desire  to  keep  Thy  law." 

You  may  inquire,  Why  was  the  law  so  in- 


302       ARE  BELIEVERS  UNDER  THE  LAW? 

formal,  and  why  was  it  not  committed  to  ex- 
press enactment,  as  afterwards  ?  The  reply  is 
obvious.  By  our  common  reckoning,  Adam 
was  among  his  descendants  more  than  half 
the  time  till  the  flood,  himself  to  instruct 
them  in  the  Divine  will.  And  what  an  in- 
structor he  was  fit  to  be  !  What  a  story  he 
could  tell !  What  an  impressive  exhibition 
of  the  Divine  will  he  could  present!  "  I  have 
been,  my  children,"  he  could  say,  "  in  the 
garden  of  God.  He  walked  and  talked  with 
me  ;  He,  our  Maker,  gave  us  all  good  things, 
but  we  disobeyed  Him,  and  our  sin  drove  us 
from  the  garden  ;  yet  He  will  not  cast  us  oflf 
for  ever.  A  coming  Seed  of  the  woman  shall 
destroy  our  tempter,  and  win  us  back  to  God. 
Let  us  hope  in  God's  mercy,  and  put  trust  in 
the  Seed  that  is  to  come  and  save  us."  While 
this  teacher — second,  it  seems  to  me,  in  power 
and  fitness  to  impress,  only  to  the  Second 
Adam — remained  to  recite  the  history  of  para- 
dise to  his  children,  and  while  they  who  heard 
it  from  his  lips  remained,  no  written  tables  of 
stone  were  needed. 
But  when  the  chosen  race  was  called  out, 


ARE  BELIE  VERS  UNDER  THE  LA  W?       303 

and  the  life  of  man  was  shortened,  this  advan- 
tage no  longer  remained.  Then  thunders 
played  around  Sinai,  the  mountain  shook  un- 
der the  tread  of  the  Almighty,  and  the  cere- 
monial law,  temporary  and  for  Canaan,  was 
published,  and  the  moral  law  of  all  time,  and 
for  all  climes  and  lands,  was  formally  repub- 
lished ;  and  again  God  might  say  to  His  peo- 
ple— "  If  ye  love  Me,  keep  My  command- 
ments." 

You  may  ask  me.  Why  was  this  law  so  min- 
ute, so  detailed,  and,  in  the  submission  it  re- 
quired, so  mechanical  ? 

For  the  answer  I  go  to  your  firesides  or  to 
your  own  childhood.  In  your  earliest  days 
your  parents  made  almost  everything  you 
did  a  matter  of  distinct  command.  The  hours 
when  you  should  rise,  and  lie  down,  and  eat ; 
the  books  you  should  read ;  the  companions 
you  should  choose  ;  the  very  dishes  you  should 
partake  of — all  this  and  much  more  your  par- 
ents explicitly  enjoined.  But  when  your  years 
advanced,  and  your  understanding  grew  with 
your  body,  these  regulations  fell  into  disuse, 
and  you  are  supposed  to  know  by  your  own 


304       ARE  BELIEVERS  UNDER  THE  LAW? 

understanding  what  you  are  to  do.  You  are 
just  as  much  bound  now  as  you  ever  were ; 
but  it  is  not  by  minute  details  adapted  to 
your  childish  condition,  but  by  principles  the 
obligation  of  which  renders  you  responsible 
as  a  man.  So  was  it  in  the  immaturity  of  the 
Church  in  Jewish  times.  At  length  the  ful- 
ness of  time  came.  God  who  at  sundry  times 
and  in  divers  manners  had  spoken  in  times 
past  unto  the  prophets,  now  spake  by  His 
Son.  Jesus  is  born  in  Bethlehem,  grows  up 
in  Nazareth,  teaches  in  Capernaum,  through- 
out Galilee  and  Judea,  and  in  Jerusalem  itself. 
He  is  the  Prophet  of  His  Church  in  person, 
directly  teaching  "  what  men  are  to  believe 
concerning  God,  and  what  duty  God  re- 
quires of  man."  Christ  gave  no  new  revela- 
tion reversing  that  already  given.  His  ser- 
mon on  the  mount  is  the  spiritual  exposition 
of  what  God  had  ever  said  to  men.  When 
He  enlightened  the  apostles  it  was  by  ex- 
plaining to  them  the  Scriptures.  He  dis- 
played no  new  road  to  heaven.  He  relaxed 
no  yoke  that  His  Father  had  laid  on.  He 
did,  indeed,  come  to  break  the  yoke  of  Sa- 


ARE  BELIE  VERS  UNDER  THE  LA  W ?       305 

tan,  to  deliver  from  the  bondage  of  sin,  to 
snatch  from  the  prison-house  of  hell.  But  He 
did  not  come  to  put  man  under  less  obliga- 
tion to  obey,  or  to  rescind  any  claim  God  had 
to  service.  As  the  school-books  of  the  child 
are  laid  aside,  being  useless  for  the  man,  so 
indeed  the  ceremonial  law  was  laid  aside  when 
Christ  came  ;  but  the  Father's  claim  to  obedi- 
ence remained,  and  the  servant's  obligation 
to  obey  remained  likewise.  Let  no  man  think 
that  Christ  sets  up  a  milder  duty  than  His 
Father's.  He  rebukes  by  anticipation  the 
dishonorable  thought — "  He  that  loveth  me 
not  keepeth  not  my  sayings,  and  the  word 
which  ye  hear  is  not  mine,  but  the  Father's 
which  sent  me." — John  xiv.  24.  Men  were 
summoned  to  obey  Him  for  this  very  reason. 
"  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  hear  ye  Him,"  said 
His  Father  from  the  bosom  of  the  white  cloud 
on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration.  And  if 
He  says  "  my  commandments,"  He  refers  to 
Himself  not  as  the  source  of  their  authority, 
but  as  the  medium  of  their  communication. 
If  men  heard  and  read  Moses  (though  God 
spake  by  him),  and  trembled  under  the  voice 


3o6       ARE  BELIEVERS  UNDER  THE  LAW? 

of  prophets  (though  it  was  God  who  spake 
through  them),  much  more  are  they  to  hear 
Christ's  words,  for  the  Father  speaks  by  Him. 
"  Surely  they  will  reverence  my  Son  "  is  not 
an  unreasonable  expectation.  By  itself  and 
through  any  channel  God's  command  is  en- 
titled to  obedience,  but  the  claim  is  enhanced 
when  He  speaks  by  His  Son. 

And  so,  now,  every  disciple  of  Christ  is  to 
prove  His  love  to  Christ  by  keeping  His 
commandments.  These  cover  all  the  life  of  a 
man,  inner  and  outer,  public  and  private.  My 
temper  is  a  part  of  my  inner  life.  Christ  com- 
mands me,  "  Love  your  enemies,  bless  them 
that  curse  you."  Forgiveness,  gentleness, 
charitableness  in  judging,  patience,  He  com- 
mands me  to  cultivate  as  truly  as  honesty, 
purity,  or  obedience  to  parents.  My  aims  are 
a  part  of  my  life.  He  commands  me  to  seek 
first  the  kingdom  of  God ;  to  lay  up  treasure 
in  heaven ;  to  be  a  light  in  the  world  ;  just  as 
truly  as  He  commands  me  to  pray,  to  wor- 
ship, to  believe.  My  dealing  with  others  is  a 
part  of  my  life.  He  commands  not  only  hon- 
esty and  justice,  but  generosity.      But  why 


ARE  BELIE  VERS  UNDER  THE  LA  W?       307 

enumerate?  Go  to  the  Gospels  and  go  to 
your  own  life  in  its  every  department,  from 
January  to  December,  from  youth  to  age,  and 
tell  me  what  portion  of  it  is  not  covered  by 
Christ's  commandments?  And  tell  me  fur- 
ther, from  what  one  of  them  are  you  exempt  ? 
— which  of  them  may  you  break  in  safety  ?  If 
you  are  ever  tempted  to  dream  that  you  are 
either  above  divine  law  or  beyond  it,  because 
you  are  in  Christ,  let  there  echo  through  the 
depths  of  your  spirit  these  words  of  the  Mas- 
ter— "  Think  not  I  am  come  to  destroy  the 
law  or  the  prophets  ;  I  am  not  come  to  des- 
troy but  to  fulfill."  Do  not  for  a  moment  give 
place  to  that  high-sounding  but  hardly  intel- 
ligible jargon  that  holds  up  exemption  from 
Christ's  commandments  as  the  privilege  of 
believers.  What  does  it  mean  ?  Is  it  that  a 
Christian  is  not  saved  by  his  own  obedience  ? 
All  evangelical  teachers  proclaim  that,  and 
the  new  truth,  as  it  appears,  is  nothing  new. 
Do  they  mean  that  a  Cliristian  may  steal  and 
be  guiltless  ?     Surely  not.     What  then  ? 

But  there   are   good    men  who  relax    the 
claims  of  obedience.     Very  likely.     The  Sav- 


3oS        ARE  BELIE  VERS  UNDER  THE  LA  W? 

iour  contemplated  their  case — *'  Whosoever 
shall  break  one  of  these  least  commandments, 
and  shall  teach  men  so,  he  shall  be  called  the 
least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  whosoever 
shall  do  and  teach  them  shall  be  called  great 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven." — Matthew  v.  19. 
Oh,  for  greatness  in  that  kingdom  !  Here 
ambition  may  have  its  full  swing  without 
danger.  Oh,  learn  to  do  and  teach  all  the 
precious  Saviour's  commandments.  So  shall 
be  fulfilled  in  you  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah, 
spoken  of  such  as  you  (ii.  3) — "And  many 
people  shall  go  and  say,  Come  ye,  and  let  us 
go  up  to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord,  to  the 
house  of  the  God  of  Jacob  ;  and  He  will  teach 
us  of  His  ways,  and  we  will  walk  in  His  paths ; 
for  out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law,  and  the 
word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem."  Nor  will 
such  holy,  spiritual  obedience  be  without  its 
appropriate  gracious  reward,  for  the  precious 
Redeemer  pledges  Himself  to  this — "  He  that 
hath  my  commandments  and  keepeth  them, 
he  it  is  that  loveth  me  ;  and  he  that  loveth 
me  shall  be  loved  of  my  Father,  and  I  will 
love  him,  and  will  manifest  myself  to  him." 


MANNER:     A    HOMILY    FOR    "SELF 
AND  FRIENDS." 


AM  admitted,  even  by  partial  friends, 
to  be  ungainly  and  awkward  in  almost 
everything  I  do.  I  am  original  with- 
out design  or  effort,  for,  having  no  ca- 
pacity to  imitate,  I  have  never  improved  from 
good  examples,  and  there  is  so  much  sense  in 
the  world,  that  no  one  imitates  me.  This  is  re- 
markable, seeing  that  imitators  commonly  re- 
produce blemishes ;  were  I  a  great  man,  mine 
also  might  be  copied.  But  my  obscurity  per- 
mits me  to  be  unique. 

I  hope  it  will  be  felt,  therefore,  that  I  may 
lecture  the  readers  of  these  papers  on  manner, 
with  propriety.  My  circumstances  have  ren- 
dered me  a  closer  observer  than  happier  per- 
sons are,  and  as  dwarfs  commonly  affect  tall 

(309) 


310  MANNER. 

partners,  I  may  have  become  more  apprecia- 
tive of  the  virtues  for  the  want  of  which  I  am 
consciously  conspicuous. 

Many  people  would  be  condemned  to  tem- 
porary silence  but  for  their  ministers.  Num- 
bers of  persons  between  whom  there  is  little 
connection  except  by  "  the  Congregation," 
exchange  visits.  They  have  nothing  to  talk 
of  but  the  minister,  and  his  ways.  And  inas- 
much as  many  persons  are  competent  judges 
of  what  strikes  the  eye,  who  are  by  no  means 
expert  theologians,  the  outward  ways  are 
likely  to  be  praised  or  censured  even  more 
than  the  doctrines  taught  or  the  duties  incul- 
cated. The  Gospel  has  much  to  contend 
against,  and  the  minister  is  naturally  anxious 
to  commend  it.  His  manner,  therefore,  is 
not  unworthy  of  notice.  He  has  not  given 
out  the  sixteen  lines  of  the  hymn  that  are  to 
sung,  until  many  have  formed  their  opinion 
of  his  taste,  culture,  and  degree  of  earnest- 
ness. An  unnatural  voice,  a  stilted  style  of 
elocution,  or  an  easy  flippancy  may  prejudice 
some  hearers  against  him  as  a  solemn  drone 
an   artificial   talker,  or  a  coxcomb.     All  this 


MANNER,  311 

applies  to  prayer  with  peculiar  emphasis.  It 
is  no  part  of  this  paper  to  allude  to  the  matter 
of  prayer,  but  while  many  make  most  admir- 
able use  of  inspired  verses,  with  others  it  were 
more  to  edification,  and  more  suggestive  of 
realit}'',  to  ask  what  we  need  for  common  life 
in  the  familiar  language  of  common  life,  "  To 
sit  under  our  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  «&c.," 
might  be  rendered  with  more  life-likeness  by 
reference  to  freedom,  homes,  books,  work, 
and  other  blessings.  But  the  manner  of  pray- 
er respects,  in  the  present  view,  tones  of  voice, 
attitude  and  style  of  address.  Oh  !  how  good 
it  is  when  there  is  humble  asking,  not  dictat- 
ing or  explaining  ;  when  there  is  no  obscuri- 
ty, and  no  declamation  ;  when  short  sentences 
convey  earnest  wishes ;  and  when  the  deep 
and  solemn  awe  is  expressed  not  in  words, 
but  in  the  whole  bearing  of  the  minister  ! 

Manner  in  preaching,  is  admitted  on  all 
hands  to  be  important.  Indeed,  a  man  may 
sometimes  go  through  the  "  preliminary  ex- 
ercises "  (that  adjective  convicts  of  an  error — 
they  arc  not  "  preliminary,")  in  such  a  way 
as  to  say  to  the  audience  (not  the  worship- 


312  MANNER. 

pers,  observe) — "  Never  mind  this — it  is  of  no 
importance.  /  shall /rm^;/^  by  and  by."  This 
is  very  bad.  Men  whose  manner  is  radically 
vicious  are  sometimes  tempted  to  depreciate 
the  excellence  they  want  as  "mere  manner." 
But  the  men  of  "  mere  matter "  need  not 
boast ;  and  when,  as  will  sometimes  happen, 
they  are  equally  without  matter  and  manner, 
they  are  very  ineffective  indeed.  To  shout, 
or  rant,  to  drawl,  whine,  or  chant,  is  very 
bad,  and  requires  very  admirable  matter,  in- 
deed, to  make  it  endurable.  Of  the  grave 
fault  of  denouncing-  woes  in  such  angry  tones 
as  say  to  the  hearers — "  You  will  suffer  if  you 
don't  take  my  advice,  and  you  richly  deserve 
it,"  we  say  nothing.  "  Did  you  preach  it  with 
tenderness?'''  was  M'Cheyne's  question  to  a 
brother  minister,  who  mentioned  that  he  had 
preached  on  final  ruin.  It  was  the  proper 
question  to  put. 

But  ministers  may  complain  if  I  presume  to 
lecture  them  exclusively.  It  is  not  certainly 
from  want  of  occasion  on  the  part  of  their 
hearers  that  as  yet  we  have  said  nothing  of 
them.     What  is  to  be  said  of  those  who  enter 


MANNER.  313 

God's  house  as  if  it  were  a  waiting-room, 
whose  occupants  they  must  scrutinize  before 
settling  into  a  seat  ?  or  of  those  whose  first  act 
is  to  open  a  chat  with  a  companion?  Oh! 
for  photographs  of  worshippers  (?)  who  take  a 
leisurely  survey  of  the  scene,  while  the  con- 
gregation is  praying !  Could  they  but  see 
themselves  once,  would  they  ever  repeat  the 

exhibition  ?     "  Well,  I  am  thankful is  no 

longer  beside  me  in  church,"  said  a  lady. 
"  Why  ?"  it  was  asked.  "  Why,  because  his 
conduct  was  so  irreverent  and  shameful ;  it 
not  only  kept  me  from  attending,  but  it  vexed 
me."  The  ruder  of  the  sexes  is  certainly,  in 
my  judgment,  and  with  all  respect  to  Mungo 
Park,  the  female,  and  their  own  sex  suffers 
more  than  the  other.  In  railway  carriages, 
omnibuses,  and  elsewhere,  I  have  seen  more 
ungentleness  from  women  to  women  than  I 
ever  saw  among  men.  "  This  is  a  man's  cal- 
umny," says  a  gentle  reader.  Dear  lady,  I 
proceed  to  horrify  you  yet  more  by  remark- 
ing that  this  rudeness  sometimes  goes  to 
church.  You  shall  see  a  lady  block  up  the 
entrance  to  a  half-filled  pew,  while  her  weak- 
14 


314  MANNER. 

er  sisters  stand  in  the  aisle — fatigued,  confus- 
ed. How  I  have  rejoiced  when  some  oold 
and  persevering  "man  of  war,"  not  to  be  put 
out  by  a  stare,  has  broken  the  boom  and  en- 
tered !  I  have  cheered  inwardly  over  such 
small  victories. 

Next  to  rudeness,  in  power  to  disgust,  is 
petty  officiousness  in  God's  house.  I  hate  to 
see  people  so  little  engaged  in  the  occupations 
of  the  place  as  to  be  in  constant  competition 
with  the  sexton.  Don't  be  rude,  but  don't  be 
"  tiresome  "  with  your  small  politenesses.  Est 
modus  in  rehis.  The  old  gentleman  who  took 
lozenges  to  church  and  deliberately  carried 
one  to  every  person  that  coughed,  including 
the  clergyman,  did  not,  to  my  certain  knowl- 
edge, promote  devotional  feelings. 

Did  you  ever  "  beg  ?"  No  ?  Congratulate 
yourself.  The  mendicants  outside  the  Ref- 
ormation-pale have  not  a  pleasant  time  of  it ; 
but  they  are  better  off  than  their  brethren  in 
the  Reformed  Churches,  inasmuch  as  a  chim- 
ney-sweeper, brought  up  to  the  business,  does 
not  feel  the  hardship  like  a  gentleman  forced 
into  it  by  temporary  necessity.     But  if  you 


MANNER.  315 

ever  have  to  beg — and  no  man  can  tell  to 
what  he  may  come — you  have  a  grand  oppor- 
tunity of  studying  variety  of  manner.  "  Im- 
prove the  shining  hour."  You  shall  see  one 
who  hears  you  calmly  and  respectfully.  His 
manner  says — "  This  gentleman  is  doing  an 
unpleasant  duty ;  let  me  make  it  easy  to 
him."  He  tells  you  to  what  extent  he  can 
aid  you,  and  gives  "  with  simplicity."  Let 
me,  when  my  turn  comes  to  beg,  ever  find 
such  !  "  Thank  you  very  much,"  I  said  once 
to  such  a  man.  "  Never  mind,"  said  he  ;  "I 
should  be  as  much  obliged  to  you  for  coming 
to  me."  Blessings  on  him  !  His  sovereign 
is  worth  more  than  twenty  shillings.  There 
is  a  pound's  worth  of  strength  and  comfort 
with  it. 

Another  gives  you  his  subscription  with  a 
lofty,  patronizing  air,  accompanied,  perhaps, 
with  a  Memoir  of  Bountiful  Giver,  Esq.,  by 
himself  You  are  bound  to  hear  it.  Never 
mind  him.  It  is  his  weakness.  Attention  to 
him  is  the  value  he  gets  from  you  for  his 
money. 

Another   is    "  a    blunt,    out-spoken    man." 


3i6  MANNER. 

Now,  I  avow  openly  my  rooted  dislike  of  all 
such  who  announce  their  character.  They 
are  often  rude,  sometimes  cunning,  occasion- 
ally impudent.  But  when  you  apply  to  such 
a  man,  and  he  gives  you  "  a  bit  of  his  mind" — 

"  Oh,  for  a  lodge  in  some  vast  wilderness  !  " 

You  shall  get  his  autobiography,  with  illus- 
trative references  to  your  own  history.  You 
shall  hear  how  much  it  has  taken  to  maintain 
his  Christian  character — how  much  religion 
has  cost  him,  and  how  little  it  has  done  for 
him  (in  this  you  mentally  agree  with  him) ; 
you  shall  have  the  weak  points  of  your  case 
and  of  your  subscribers,  exposed ;  and  you 
shall  get,  in  the  end,  a  rough  refusal  or  an  in- 
sulting consent,  which  you  accept  because  it 
is  not  your  private  affair,  but  a  public  duty. 
It  is  like  cracking  a  walnut  of  special  hard- 
ness, with  uncommon  difficulty,  to  find  a  dark 
and  nauseous  kernel.  The  collector  who  comes 
on  a  few  such  nuggets  of  lead  in  a  day  will 
return  at  night  footsore  and  heartsore. 

*'  But  it  is  his  manner."      And  what  busi- 
ness has  he  to  keep  such  a  manner,  that,  like  a 


MANNER.  317 

mastiff,  ought  to  be  clogged,  muzzled,  and 
chained,  only  to  be  let  loose  on  midnight 
plunderers.  Is  he  a  Christian  ?  Are  not 
Christians  bound  to  "  be  courteous?"  Is  there 
not  something  in  the  Word  about  adorning 
the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour?  Is  not 
"gentleness"  growing  somewhere  among  the 
"  fruit  of  the  Spirit  ?"  Is  not  the  Christian  the 
true  gentleman  ?  Is  not  manner  something 
in  the  make  up  of  such  a  character? 


PASTORS   AND   TEACHERS. 


ND  He  gave  some,  apostles ;  and 
some,  prophets ;  and  some,  evan- 
gelists ;  and  some,  pastors  and  teach- 
ers ;  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints, 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying 
of  the  body  of  Christ. — Eph.  iv.  ii,  12.  And 
is  the  gift  perpetual  ? 

The  question  here  raised  is  a  very  simple 
one.  It  has  no  reference  to  the  order  or  rank 
of  Christ's  ministers.  We  do  not  need  to 
collate  this  passage  with  two  similar  passages 
(i  Cor.  xii.  8-1 1  and  28-30),  and  to  inquire 
whether  these  terms  include  all  the  officers 
who  had  place  in  Christ's  Church,  or  whether 
they  be  simply  mentioned  as  examples.  I 
propose  to  look  at  the  passage  as  proving  the 
(318) 


PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS.  319 

Divine  intention  that  there  should  be  a  con- 
tinuous ministry  in  the  Church,  until  the 
Church  shall  have  been  all  gathered,  and  the 
body  of  Christ  be  perfect.  For  if  it  be 
alleged  that  the  perfecting  here  applies  to  in- 
dividuals, and  not  to  the  whole  mystical  body, 
it  may  be  replied,  "  Even  so  ;  whatever  ne- 
cessity existed  for  a  ministry  for  individual 
benefit  still  exists  ;  and,  for  the  same  reason 
as  at  the  first,  will  continue  to  be  supplied.' 
And  if  it  should  be  alleged  that  on  this  prin- 
ciple it  might  be  argued  that  Apostles  should 
continue,  we  reply,  No — there  is  no  evidence 
that  each  person  requires  all  these  officers  ; 
but  there  is  evidence  that  some  of  them  were 
ordinarily  necessary  from  the  beginning,  and 
for  that  necessity  the  same  good  hand  that 
provided  at  the  first  will  continue  to  provide 
"  till  we  all  come  to  the  unity  of  the  faith, 
and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God, 
unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ." 

I.  Such  an  arrangement  the  nature  of  the 
case  demands.  Modern  thought  has  settled 
down    into   the   conviction    that   division   ot 


320  PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS. 

labor  is  best  for  the  laborer,  the  work,  and 
the  community.  Societies  do  not  depend  on 
the  casual  and  desultory  efforts  of  their  mem- 
bers in  order  to  push  their  plans  and  objects. 
They  designate  office-bearers,  assign  them 
position  and  duties,  and  hold  them  responsi- 
ble for  the  doing  of  their  respective  shares  of 
work.  But  in  this,  human  societies  have 
been  simply  following  the  arrangement  long 
adopted  in  the  Divine.  Modern  improve- 
ments, here,  as  in  many  another  field,  instead 
of  marching  past  and  superseding  the  Scrip- 
tures, are  but  slowly  following  in  their  wake. 
What  human  organization  would  make  way 
without  recognized  representatives  and  office- 
bearers ?  It  is  doubtful  if  ever  any  Christian 
community  has  lasted  through  a  second  gen- 
eration without  a  ministry  ;  and  it  is  certain 
that  the  less  definite  and  the  more  desultory 
this  ministry,  the  less  potent  for  all  Church 
purposes  is  the  community.  "  What  is  the 
business  of  everybody  is  that  of  none,"  is  one 
of  the  proverbs  into  which  a  result  of  long 
human  experience  has  crystallized.  The 
Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodists  always  looked 


PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS.  321 

much  to  preachers,  and  believed  in  their  or- 
dination, but  left  them  in  other  respects  in 
great  measure  to  the  common  lot  of  ordinary 
Christians.  But  with  the  growth  and  spread 
of  the  Church,  and  the  growing  cxpansive- 
ness  of  the  Church's  mind,  it  has  been  clearly 
seen  that  a  ministry,  to  be  equal  to  ministerial 
toils,  must  be  set  free  from  the  rival  cares  of 
agriculture  and  commerce,  that  its  members 
must  "  give  themselves  wholly  to  these  things." 
It  gives  one  increased  confidence  in  the 
Scriptural  plan,  to  see  right-minded  men, 
whether  they  will  or  no,  shut  up  to  its  adop- 
tion by  the  necessities  of  their  Christian  life, 
and  by  the  results  of  their  Church  experience. 
2.  When  the  Lord  made  this  gracious  gift 
to  the  Church,  He  only  continued  and  exem- 
plified His  Old  Testament  plans,  with  such 
changes  as  the  new  arrangement  demanded. 
The  whole  tribe  of  Levi  He  gave  of  old  to 
Israel  for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  It  is  not 
enough  considered  how  far  Jewish  legislation 
anticipated  the  very  improvements  which  are 
the  boast  of  modern  times.  The  questions  of 
sanatory  reform,  safe  tenure  of  land.  Church 
14* 


322  PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS. 

and  Stale  relations,  education  for  the  nation, 
and  others  we  could  easily  name,  were  settled 
for  the  Jews  in  a  manner  up  to  which  v/e  are 
only  creeping  slowly  in  our  own  time.  Any 
one  at  the  trouble  to  look  into  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  Levites  over  the  land  of  Israel 
will  see  that  for  the  central  service  of  the 
Temple,  for  the  Synagogue  service,  as  it 
grew  to  be  the  natural  form  of  weekly  wor- 
ship, and  for  the  systematic  instruction  of  the 
people,  God  had  made  ampler  provision  for 
His  favored  people  than  any  nation,  the  most 
enlightened  and  religious,  has  yet  attempted. 
A  ministerial  tribe  became  unsuitable  to  a 
dispensation  that  was  for  all  nations  ;  and  so 
the  families  of  God's  people  everywhere  fur- 
nish the  ministers  of  the  New  Testament. 
From  among  themselves,  as  from  among  the 
Jews,  does  the  Lord  take  out  and  call  to  the 
ministry  the  pastors  and  teachers  who  are  to 
break  among  the  people  the  bread  of  life. 
The  New  Testament  introduces  not  a  new 
religion,  but  a  new  form  of  the  old,  and  it 
continues  therein  a  separate  body  of  men, 
chargeable  specially  with  keeping  the  house 


PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS.  323 

of  the  Lord,  and  instructing  the  people  out 
of  His  Law. 

3.  In  this  respect  the  Lord  Jesus  reveals 
His  Father  and  discloses  the  Divine  will. 
"  Have  not  I  chosen  you  twelve  ?"  One  fell 
indeed — a  proof  that  unworthy  members  of 
the  ministry  can  never  be  made  an  argument 
against  a  ministry,  for  who  would  deny  the 
honor  due  to  the  apostolic  band  because  it 
included  a  traitor  and  hypocrite  ?  But,  as  if 
to  indicate  that  there  must  be  suitable  office- 
bearers, the  Lord  Himself  called  Paul ;  so, 
whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  action  the 
other  apostles  took  in  the  choice  of  Matthias, 
their  ranks  shall  not  want  one  to  fill  up  the 
melancholy  gap — one  summoned  thither  by 
the  Master  Himself.  Nor  did  this  special 
office-bearing  die  with  the  apostles.  They 
ordained  them  elders  in  every  city.  Churches 
once  organized  had  men  whom  the  Holy 
Ghost  had  made  overseers  of  the  flock  of 
God.  They  were  to  feed  the  flock,  and  at 
the  hands  of  the  flock  to  receive  obedience 
and  double  honor.  As  the  Lord,  in  creating, 
gave  to  the  trees  of  the  field  a  self-perpetuat- 


324  PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS. 

ing  power,  so  the  Lord,  in  founding  His  New 
Testament  Zion,  gave  to  His  people  the  right 
and  power  to  construct,  extend  and  perpetu- 
ate their  simple  and  effective  organization, 
regardless  altogether  of  external  power  or 
authority.  This  is  a  point  carnal  men  can 
never  understand.  They  cannot  conceive  of 
any  higher  power  than  a  senate  or  a  king. 
But  we  do  conceive  and  know  of  a  higher — 
and  that  without  any  slight,  even  in  thought, 
on  the  civil  jurisdiction.  Why  do  I  keep  the 
Sabbath?  Not  because  the  government  has 
feebly  legislated  in  its  favor ;  but  because 
Christ  has  enjoined  it.  Why  do  I  search  the 
Scriptures  and  teach  them  ?  Not  because 
the  country  has  a  free  press  and  free  speech, 
but  because  the  Lord  has  enjoined  me.  Why 
may  we  not,  on  the  same  high  warrant,  meet 
to  worship,  choose  a  minister,  form  a  com- 
munity, receive  into  or  expel  from  it,  as 
independently  of  external  control  as  the 
Corinthian  Church  was,  when  expelling  and 
restoring  the  incestuous  professor  by  Paul's 
direction  (i  Cor.  v.  3-5  and  2  Cor.  ii.  5-8)? 
And  all  this,  as  the  history  of  the  Church 


PASTORS  AND   TEACHERS.  325 

prov^es,  and  indeed  the  nature  of  the  case 
will  shov/,  is  not  only  compatible  with  due 
regard  to  the  civil  authority  —  which  is  su- 
preme in  its  own  department — but  is  condu- 
cive to  the  maintenance  of  its  due  supremacy; 
for  the  heart  that  responds  to  the  demand, 
"  Render  to  God  the  things  that  are  God's," 
will  most  promptly  render  to  Caesar  the 
things  that  are  Csesar's.  He  who  most  fears 
God  will  most  "  honor  the  king." 

The  Lord's  actual  appointment  of  a  minis- 
try, then,  and  His  instructions  to  them  to 
perpetuate  the  office,  indicate  clearly  enough 
His  will,  and  show  that  a  ministry  is  to  con- 
tinue in  His  Church,  until  disbanded  by  an 
order  as  clear  and  explicit  as  that  by  which  it 
has  been  appointed. 

4.  How  is  the  ministry  to  be  called  out 
now  that  Christ  does  not  visibly  select  in  per- 
son ? 

By  the  Lord's  preparing,  and  the  people's 
trying  and  accepting.  The  difficulty  is  no 
greater  than  in  the  choice  of  deacons — "  Look 
out  among  you  some  men  of  honest  report, 
full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  wisdom."     To 


326  PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS. 

get  up  objections  to  this  course  would  have 
been  easy.  At  Httle  outlay  of  wit,  or  saga- 
city, one  might  have  said,  "  Competent  judges 
they  are,  indeed  !  a  set  of  common  people, 
recently  brought  into  the  Church,  just  now 
murmuring  and  quarreling  among  themselves 
about  a  miserable  poor's  fund  !"  Even  so  ; 
this,  with  all  its  faults,  was  the  apostolic  plan, 
and  until  a  command  as  plain  supersedes  it, 
we  must,  with  all  its  evils — if  they  exist — work 
it  out  honestly.  And  this  preparation  on  the 
Lord's  part  does  not  put  aside  means,  but,  in 
a  non- miraculous  age,  implies  the  use  of 
them.  Timothy  was  none  the  worse  as  a 
minister  for  the  Scripture-reading  of  his 
home  ;  nor  ApoUos  for  the  judicious  instruc- 
tion of  Aquila  and  Priscilla.  And  if  it  be 
said  this  was  casual  instruction,  and  is  very 
different  from  putting  a  man  through  a  three 
years'  course  of  theology  before  he  becomes 
a  preacher,  we  reply  that  the  Lord  put  the 
Twelve  through  so  many  years  of  His  own 
personal  instruction  before  they  went  forth  to 
all  the  world  ;  and  when  Paul  was  converted, 
it  is  a  curious  coincidence,  that  just  so  many 


PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS.  327 

years  of  his  life  are  unaccounted  for,  except 
on  the  supposition  that  he  was  undergoing 
preparation  for  his  future  work.  If  the  Mas- 
ter so  dealt  with  the  first  men  of  His  choice, 
who  had  the  benefit  of  his  direct  teaching, 
we  shall  not  think  the  three  or  four  years 
given  to  the  study  of  Divinity  time  lost,  but 
rather  a  good  and  warrantable  means  —  not 
Avithout  the  Lord's  sanction  —  for  training 
"  good  ministers  " — "  workmen  that  need  not 
be  ashamed  " — competent  "  rightly  to  divide 
the  word  of  life."  Nor  shall  we  undervalue 
that  trained  reasoning  power,  and  that  ac- 
quaintance with  Greek  poets,  which  Paul 
possessed  and  used,  and  which,  when  he 
joined  the  Christian  ranks,  redeemed  the  sect 
from  the  reproach  of  ignorance  and  illiteracy. 
True,  the  hard  -  working  pastor  may  have 
long  since  lost  the  memory  of  mathematical 
demonstration  and  classical  idiom  with  which 
he  was  once  familiar.  But  only  the  most 
superficial  thinker  would,  therefore,  conclude 
them  worthless,  or  place  the  man  on  a  level 
with  him  who  never  made  these  acquisitions. 
Because,  in  the  very  mastery,  he  acquired  a 


328  PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS. 

mental  preparation,  and  underwent  an  intel- 
lectual training,  of  which  he  could  not  divest 
himself,  even  if  he  would.  Possibly  enough, 
the  brave  old  veteran  may  have  forgotten  his 
drill,  but  he  would  not  wield  his  weapons  as 
he  does  if  he  had  not  learned  it  once.  So  let 
us  do  our  utmost — it  will  all  be  needed — in 
school  and  college,  to  train  and  discipline  the 
young  men  into  whose  hearts  God  puts  it  to 
seek  the  work  of  the  ministry.  They  will 
not  be  long  in  it — if  they  are  anything  worth 
— till  they  find  all  their  powers,  natural  and 
acquired,  little  enough  for  the  lofty  task 
of  "  disputing,  and  persuading  the  things 
concerning  the  kingdom  of  God."  God,  it  is 
true,  has  no  need  of  man's  learning.  We 
might  reply  with  the  witty  Divine,  "  Neither 
has  He  of  man's  ignorance."  But  we  prefer 
to  say  He  has  no  need  of  our  efforts,  of  our 
money,  of  our  sons,  of  our  ministry  of  any 
kind  ;  but  it  has  pleased  him  to  employ  them, 
and  zve  sJiall  give  tJicm  to  Him  of  the  best. 

These  truths  bind  the  church  to  two  things 
— the  reception  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
ministry.     To  call  a  minister,    to  encourage 


PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS.  329 

him  to  devote  his  life  to  your  instruction,  and 
then  either  to  neglect  or  to  treat  lightly  his 
administration,  is  surely  unfair  to  man  and 
dishonoring  to  God.  It  is  to  put  your  hand 
to  His  institution  that  you  may  insult  it. 
There  is  sometimes  seen  a  most  distressing 
levity  on  this  subject,  and  those  on  whose 
solemn  promise  of  respectful  waiting  on  His 
ministry,  a  Christian  man  has  taken  the  most 
momentous  steps,  will,  on  grounds  the  most 
frivolous,  fling  their  promise  to  the  v/inds,  as 
if  ministers  were  to  be  called  like  cabs,  and 
ordered  to  drive  whithersoever  the  hirer 
pleased.  It  is  not  so,  dear  brethren  ;  we  do 
not  ply  our  work  with  hire  from  you  as  our 
main  object.  We  are  Christ's  servants,  and 
our  real  wages  come  from  Him.  Properly 
speaking,  the  most  you  can  do  for  us  is  to 
give  us  the  means,  with  comfort  and  effi- 
ciency, to  do  Christ's  work  for  your  benefit ; 
which  leads  me  to  add  that  the  Church  is 
bound  to  see  to  the  maintenance  of  the  min- 
istry she  receives.  Regard  a  minister  as  sim- 
ply the  member  of  a  profession,  and  society 
has  an  undoubted  right  to  fix  the  scale  of  his 


330  FA  S  TORS  A  ND  TEA  CHERS. 

remuneration  ;  but  Christian  society  does  a 
most  cruel  and  heartless  thing  if  it  demands 
from  the  minister  the  expenditure  in  all  out- 
ward things  of  a  member  of  a  learned  profes- 
sion, while  giving  him  the  income  of  a  me- 
chanic. It  is  society  that  fixes  the  scale  of 
our  living,  and  it  is  at  the  peril  of  our  ver}^ 
usefulness  if  vv^e  fall  below  it.  To  withhold 
the  means  of  coming  up  to  this  scale,  there- 
fore, is  to  inflict  a  wrong,  and  that  upon  a 
class  who  may  hardly  complain  or  seek  re- 
dress without  the  imputation  of  sordid  mo- 
tives. 

I  must  not  fail  to  add  that  this  continuous 
ministry  does  not  preclude  the  exercise  of  the 
talents  of  other  members  of  the  Church. 
There  is  room  for  all  the  gifts  God  bestows — 
room  for  the  ruler,  for  the  teacher,  for  the 
administrator,  for  the  giver,  for  the  evange- 
list. But  no  one  of  these  lessens  the  value, 
or  renders  less  necessary  the  steady,  patient, 
regular  and  trained  power  that  the  ministry 
of  the  gospel  exercises  on  the  community 
Now  and  then,  indeed,  a  Garibaldi  spurns  the 
laws  of  regular  war,  and,  at  the  head  of  a 


PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS.  331 

ragged  mob,  snatches  victories  from  trained 
troops  ;  but  we  shall  count  military  training 
a  requisite  for  the  defenders  (under  God)  of 
the  land,  notwithstanding.  And  just  so,  now 
and  then,  a  brilliant  and,  by  God's  grace, 
useful  evangelist  is  set  up  by  injudicious  or 
interested  people  as  illustrating  by  his  suc- 
cess the  apathy  or  stupidity  of  his  less  demon- 
strative or  locomotive  brethren.  But  while 
a  comet,  once  in  a  way,  blazes  in  the  heavens, 
to  our  great  delight  and  wonder,  and  puts  all 
other  bodies  out  of  mind  for  the  time,  the 
steady  business  of  lighting  up  the  v/orld  is 
done,  and  ever  has  been,  by  the  sun,  moon 
and  stars.  "  Let  the  newest  take  it,"  is  the 
inscription  on  the  golden  apple  of  its  admira- 
tion, which  the  community  ofttimes  flings 
down.  It  must  be  the  care  of  good  and  true 
men,  not  to  allow  the  tempting  fruit  to  be- 
come an  apple  of  discord  among  them,  for 

"  Delirant  reges,  plectuntur  Achivi," 
("  The  monarchs   are   mad,  and  the  Greeks 
are  punished,")  which  we  take  leave  to  read 
freely — ministers  dispute  and  the  people  pay 
the  penalty.     Let  us  only  be  energetic,  pure, 


332  PASTORS  AND  TEACHERS. 

laborious  and  faithful,  and  the  ministry  — 
Christ's  institution — will  be  honored  in  us  ; 
souls  will  be  saved  ;  every  auxihary  agency 
will  receive  its  life  and  vigor  through  our 
Divinely-appointed  and  Divinely-blessed  ef- 
forts ;  and  when  the  Chief  Shepherd  shall 
appear,  we  shall  receive  a  crown  of  life. 


THE   BATTLE   OF   ARMAGEDDON. 


HE  interpretation  of  prophecy  at- 
tracts less  attention  among  us  than 
in  some  other  quarters.  Now  and 
then  some  remarkable  movement  is 
connected  with  a  divine  announcement  and 
becomes  the  subject  of  a  sermon  or  a  pam- 
phlet, and  awakens  some  popular  interest. 
Such  passing  notice  the  year  1848  received  in 
connection  with  Fleming's  remarkable  book. 
Sometimes,  as  during  the  Crimean  war,  a 
clever  catchpenny  like  the  "  Coming  Strug- 
gle" links  itself  to  the  topic  of  the  time,  and 
spreads  a  little  the  spirit  of  inquiry  through 
which  it  rose  to  fame.  Before  the  events 
have  falsified  it,  the  prophet  and  his  predic- 
tions are  generally  forgotten. 

On  these  and  other  accounts  it  may  be  we 

(333) 


334  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON. 

are  not  addicted  to  the  study  of  such  volumes 
as  Dr.  Cumming  has  submitted  to  the  public 
notice.  His  readers  are  for  the  most  part 
among  Englishmen,  the  evangelical  portion 
of  whom  look  favorably  on  the  theory  of  our 
Lord's  personal  coming  to  bring  in  the  Mil- 
lennium. The  number  of  tracts,  pamphlets, 
and  books  issued  on  this  subject  from  the 
press  is  amazingly  large.  Whether  it  be  cause 
or  effect,  we  do  not  pretend  to  say,  but  it  is 
certain  that  many  evangelical  persons,  if  ap- 
pealed to  on  the  subject  of  necessary  reforms 
in  the  church,  would  reply  in  substance — 
"  What  is  the  use  of  trying  to  improve  insti- 
tutions that  will  soon  give  place  to  the  new 
dispensation — which  we  daily  long  for  and,  in 
fact,  expect?"  Among  the  smaller  bodies  of 
Christians  there  is  also  great  activity  in  the 
field  of  prophetical  interpretation,  and  the 
tendency  to  fanciful  minuteness  by  which  they 
are  distinguished  in  other  departments,  is 
here  abundantly  illustrated. 

That  loose  or  wild  speculations  have  been 
indulged  on  these  subjects  is  no  good  reason 
for  disregarding   prophecy.      The  difficulties 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  335 

ill  the  way  of  reaching  some  satisfactory  un- 
derstanding of  this  large  section  of  the  Word 
are  not  so  great  as  at  first  sight  they  seem. 
The  prophecy  was  not  meant  to  be  history 
written  beforehand.  It  is  a  "  miracle  of  wis- 
dom," without  being  minute  in  details,  or  spe- 
cific in  announcements.  It  has  been  so  con- 
structed that  obscurity  hangs  over  the  pre- 
diction till  the  event  rolls  it  away,  and  then 
men  cry  out  as  they  do  over  some  great  dis- 
covery,—  "How  simple  and  plain!  How 
could  men  fail  to  see  it!"  The  extraordinary 
birth  of  our  Lord ;  His  descent  from  Shem  ; 
His  coming  of  Judah  and  of  David's  seed  ; 
His  birth  in  lowliness  in  Bethlehem  Ephratah, 
and  the  general  outlines  of  His  work  are  all 
clear  enough  to  us  in  prophecy.  God  has 
been  "  His  own  interpreter."  But  to  how  few 
were  they  plain  until  they  came  to  pass ! 
They  were,  indeed,  a  light  shining  in  a  dark 
place.  Godly  men  knew  of  a  Deliverer,  and 
a  good  hope  for  them  through  Him,  and  they 
looked  for  redemption  in  Israel ;  but  they  had 
no  power  to  construct  a  map  of  the  future. 
When    the    fame   of   the    wonderful    circum- 


336  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON. 

stances  attending  the  Lord's  birth,  and  the 
inquiries  of  the  wise  men  for  the  "  King  of  the 
Jews"  called  attention  to  it,  the  Jewish  Doc- 
tors could  point  to  Micah's  words.  But  how 
little  impression  the  announcement  made  on 
themselves,  subsequent  events  clearly  enough 
showed. 

Now  the  thinof  that  hath  been  is  the  thing- 
that  will  be.  Jewish  Rabbis  had  constructed 
for  themselves  a  history  of  the  future.  It  in- 
cluded a  powerful  Messiah,  before  whom  the 
armies  of  Rome  should  flee  as  the  chaff  of  the 
summer  threshing-floor.  It  included  national 
greatness,  of  which  Solomon's  grandeur  fur- 
nished the  ideal.  It  included  the  depression 
of  all  the  foes  of  Israel.  How  violent  the  dis- 
appointment when  "  the  carpenter's  son"  dis- 
claimed all  this,  we  all  know.  And  yet  they 
had  some  show  of  argument  for  their  views. 
They  could  point  to  many  a  verse  that  boded 
splendor  to  Israel  under  Messiah's  reign. 
They  allowed  their  minds  to  dwell  on  a  selec- 
tion of  predictions,  to  the  exclusion  of  others. 
These  favorite  portions  they  interpreted  with 
slavish  literalness,  and  while  the  most  impor- 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  337 

tant  portion  of  their  own  prophecies  was  be- 
ing fulfilled  before  their  eyes,  they  held  to 
their  dream  of  national  vanity,  and  knew  not 
till  the  flood  of  God's  judgments  came  and 
carried  them  all  away.  And  yet  Christian 
writers  may  be  found  quoting  these  dreamers 
as  authorities  on  the  subject  of  prophecy,  and 
entitled  to  the  most  profound  respect  and  con- 
fidence. 

There  are  few  earnest  readers  of  the  Scrip- 
ture whose  minds  have  not  been  stirred  at 
one  time  or  another  with  inquiries  as  to  the 
events  to  which  prophecy  is  supposed  to  refer. 
The  two  witnesses ;  the  downfall  of  mystical 
Babylon ;  the  conversion  and  return  of  the 
Jews ;  the  Millennium  rest ;  such  subjects  of 
inquiry  stir  the  more  thoughtful  minds  to 
their  depths  for  a  time.  A  book  is  read  on 
the  subject,  perhaps  a  theory  is  accepted. 
Subsequent  reading  disturbs  this  easy  faith. 
Perhaps  events  refuse  to  conform  to  the  inter- 
preter's programme.  The  previous  confidence 
is  readily  shaken.  All  trust  in  the  interpreta- 
tion is  driven  away,  and  the  mind  settles  into 
disregard  of  all  attempts  at  interpretation. 
15 


338  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.. 

Few  subjects  of  this  kind  have  awakened 
more  interest,  or  their  interpretation  been  re- 
garded with  more  distrust,  than  that  of  which 
we  have  placed  the  title  at  the  head  of  this 
paper.  And  no  wonder !  For  how  varied 
have  been  the  plans  of  this  future  contest !  It 
has  been  assumed  that  Armageddon  is  a  defi- 
nite locality,  and  that  a  physical  conflict  is  to 
take  place.  But  what  reason  is  there  thus  to 
interpret  the  announcement? 

Taking  such  a  book  as  "  Kitto's  Cyclopaedia 
of  Biblical  Literature,"  and  looking  to  the 
word  "  Armageddon,"  we  are  told  that  it 
means  the  Hill  of  Megiddo.  But  the  Old 
Testament  records  two  very  fanrous  encoun- 
ters that  have  already  taken  place  there. 

In  Judges  v.  19,  we  read — "The  kings  came 
and  fought,  then  fought  the  kings  of  Canaan 
in  Taanach  by  the  waters  of  Megiddo."  Here 
the  Israelites  gained  a  signal  victory  over  the 
Canaanitish  kings.  But,  in  Rev.  xvi.  16  it  is 
said — "  And  he  gathered  them  together  into 
a  place  called,  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  Arma- 
geddon." Now,  if  it  was  meant  that  the  peo- 
ple of  God  should  be  victorious  over  the  com- 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  339 

bined  forces  of  their  enemies,  could  it  be  bet- 
ter represented  than  by  saying  that  the  battle 
of  Megiddo  should  be  fought,  as  it  were,  over 
again  ?  That  the  allusion  is  historical,  is,  to 
say  the  least,  very  probable,  from  a  singular 
coincidence  in  the  language  of  Revelation 
and  of  the  book  of  Judges.  In  Revelation 
xvi.  16,  the  sacred  writer  says  —  "And  he 
gathered  them  together."  Now,  if  he  got  the 
name  from  the  book  of  Judges,  what  more 
likely  than  that  he  would  also  find  there  the 
attendant  circumstances.  But  we  find  Debo- 
ray  saying  to  Barak,  in  Judges  iv.  7 — "  I  will 
draw  unto  thee  to  the  river  Kishon,  Sisera, 
the  captain  of  Jabin's  arm}^,  with  his  chariots 
and  his  multitude;  and  I  will  deliver  them 
into  thine  hand."  "■  He  shall  gather  them," 
"  I  will  draw  unto  thee" — how  much  alike  are 
the  two  expressions?  Nor  is  it  easy  to  see 
why  the  sacred  writer  should  say,  "  which  is 
called  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,"  if  he  did  not 
mean,  writing  in  Greek,  to  refer  his  readers 
back  to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  whence  he 
drew  his  prophetic  terms.  On  the  assump- 
tion that  -^his  is  the  historic  reference,  the  bat- 


340  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON. 

tie  of  Armageddon  is  simply  a  conflict  be- 
tween the  Lord's  servants  and  His  allied  foes, 
in  which  the  former  should  gain  a  signal  vic- 
tory. That  it  will  be  a  struggle  involving 
bloodshed,  and  the  other  circumstances  of  hu- 
man warfare,  appears  to  be  entirely  an  as- 
sumption. The  conflict  may  be  moral.  The 
weapons  of  warfare  may  be  spiritual.  This 
view  is  more  in  harmony  with  the  general 
character  of  the  Revelation  than  that  which 
would  make  one  human  battle  with  carnal 
weapons  the  symbolic  representation  of  an- 
other human  battle  of  the  same  kind. 

There  is  another  historic  event,  however,  to 
which  some  are  inclined  to  refer  the  Arma- 
geddon of  Revelation.  Josiah  was  encounter- 
ed at  Megiddon  by  Pharaohnecho,  King  of 
Egypt,  and  slain.  He  seems  to  have  meddled 
in  the  cause  of  the  King  of  Assyria,  without 
any  more  urgent  call  than  the  Egyptian  king 
passing  through  dominions  over  which  he 
claimed  authority,  on  his  way  to  attack  the 
King  of  Assyria.  It  is,  undoubtedly,  to  this 
that  the  Old-Testament  prophet  refers,  when 
it  is  said  (Zech.  xii.  1 1)— "  In  that  day  shall 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  341 

there  be  a  great  mourning  in  Jerusalem,  as  in 
the  mourning  of  Hadadrimmon,  in  the  valley 
of  Megiddon."  That  the  death  of  the  good 
Josiah  caused  such  mourning  as  might  justify 
this  reference,  appears  from  2  Chron.  xxxv. 
24,  25 — "  And  all  Judah  and  Jerusalem  mourn- 
ed for  Josiah,  and  Jeremiah  lamented  for  Jo- 
siah, and  all  the  singing  men  and  singing 
women  spake  of  Josiah  in  their  lamentations 
to  this  day."  Now,  if  we  suppose  that  the 
Apostle  John  refers  to  this  incident  connected 
with  Megidden,  it  will  modify  our  interpreta- 
tion. We  shall  then  be  obliged  to  think  that 
the  battle  of  Armageddon  will,  in  some  way, 
go  against  the  Lord's  people,  and  that  a  tem- 
porary and  partial  check  will  be  sustained  by 
them.  This  incident  Fairbairn  considers  to 
be  alluded  to  by  the  apostle.  We  doubt, 
however,  his  accuracy  in  this.  Indeed,  he 
seems  to  have  overlooked  the  reference  in 
Judges,  for  he  says  in  his  most  valuable  book 
on  "  Prophecy" — "  There  is  only  one  event 
recorded  that  had  any  peculiar  moral  bearing 
on  the  affairs  of  the  old  covenant — the  one, 
namely,  in  which  Josiah  fell  before  the  might 


342  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON. 

of  Egypt" — (p.  426,  note.)  But  whether  we 
take  the  allusion  to  be  to  the  book  of  Judges 
or  the  death  of  Josiah,  much  of  that  mystery 
which  shrouds,  and  much  of  that  speculation 
which  has  been  founded  on  "  Armageddon  " 
disappears,  and  we  have  an  event  in  the  future 
of  corresponding  moral  significance,  either  to 
Israel's  victory  or  Josiah's  death  at  Megiddo. 

Any  attempt,  therefore,  to  determine  the 
place  of  this  battle  is  a  waste  of  speculative  in- 
genuity. They  who  supposed  the  Crimean 
war  to  be  the  beginning  of  the  contest  were 
as  far  astray  in  their  principles  of  calculation 
as  the  event  showed  them  to  be  in  the  result. 
Just  as  little  reason  is  there  to  make  the 
"  kings  of  the  East,"  the  Jews  and  the  com- 
batants on  one  side,  and  to  take  Euphrates 
literally  (when  all  else  is  symbolical  confess- 
edly) as  the  seat  of  the  Turkish  Empire. 

The  ingenious  author  of  the  "■  Seventh  Vial," 
in  which  are  many  important  principles,  gives 
a  chapter  to  the  battle  of  Armageddon,  but 
without  a  single  allusion  to  the  historical  ref- 
erence !  He  adopts  here  a  very  common  ex- 
pedient, that  of  explaining  the  New  Testa- 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  343 

ment  predictions  by  those  of  the  Old — the 
very  reverse  of  the  plan  we  should  suppose 
natural.  Carrying  this  principle  a  little  fur- 
ther, we  sometimes  find  the  Lord's  parables 
explained  by  the  more  obscure  of  the  proph- 
ecies ! 

A  local  allusion  of  the  same  general  char- 
acter to  that  we  have  been  examining  is  found 
in  the  prophet  Joel  (iii.  12) — "Let  the  heathen 
be  awakened,  and  come  up  to  the  valley  of 
Jehoshaphat ;  for  there  will  I  sit  to  judge  all 
the  heathen  round  about."  A  vague  impres- 
sion exists  among  many  that  the  valley  of  Je- 
hoshaphat is  near  Jerusalem,  and  that  it  is 
here  indicated  as  the  scene  of  the  final  judg- 
ment. Both  Jews,  Christians,  and  Moham- 
medans have  been  inclined  so  to  regard  the 
glen  which  devides  Jerusalem  from  the  Mount 
of  Olives.  But  this  identification  is  no  older 
than  Eusebius,  and  Professor  Porter  has 
shown  that  the  word  for  "  valley  "  is  totally 
inapplicable  to  the  Kidron,  as  it  signifies  not 
a  glen,  but  a  low  tract  of  land  of  wide  extent, 
such  as  suited  a  battle-field.  "  Torrent  Val- 
ley," or  glen  is  the  word  always  applied  to 


344  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON. 

the  Kidron,  which  is  a  narrow  rocky  ravine, 
in  which  it  is  impossible  for  ''  multitudes"  to 
convene.  (See  Joel  iii.  12.)  He  asserts  that, 
for  the  identification  of  the  glen  near  Jeru- 
salem, and  the  place  named  by  the  prophet, 
there  is  not  the  slightest  ground,  either  in 
Scripture  or  in  Josephus.  The  common 
mind  always  wishes  to  have  definite,  local 
and  personal  references  in  prophecy,  to  have, 
in  fact,  history  written  beforehand.  But  this 
would  destroy  human  freedom  and  responsi- 
bility and  defeat  the  very  object  of  prophecy. 
There  is,  however,  an  event  to  which  the 
prophet  Joel  probably  refers,  an  event  of  such 
national  importance  as  justified  his  reference. 
We  quote  from  Kitto  (in  the  Cyclopaedia)  the 
following  summary  of  2  Chron.  xx.,  which  our 
readers  can  examine  at  their  leisure :  "  The 
allied  forces"  (Moab,  Ammon,  Edom  and  such 
aid  as  they  could  count)  '■'■  entered  the  land  of 
Judah,  and  encamped  at  Engedi,  near  the 
western  border  of  the  Dead  Sea.  In  this 
extremity,  Jehosaphat  felt  that  all  his  defence 
lay  with  God.  A  solemn  fast  was  held,  and 
the  people  repaired  from  the  towns  to  Jerusa- 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  345 

lem  to  seek  help  of  the  Lord.  In  the  pres- 
ence of  the  assembled  multitude,  the  king-  in 
the  court  of  the  temple  offered  up  a  fervent 
prayer  to  God,  concluding  with  '  O  our  God, 
wilt  Thou  not  judge  them,  for  we  have  no 
might  against  this  great  company  that  cometh 
against  us,  neither  know  we  what  to  do ;  but 
our  eyes  are  upon  Thee.'  He  ceased  ;  and, 
in  the  midst  of  the  silence  which  ensued,  a 
voice  was  raised,  pronouncing  deliverance  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  telling  them  to  go 
out  on  the  morrow  to  the  cliffs  overlooking 
the  camp  of  the  enemy,  and  see  them  all  over- 
thrown without  a  blow  from  them.  The  voice 
was  that  of  Jahaziel,  one  of  the  Levites.  His 
words  came  to  pass.  The  allies  quarrelled 
among  themselves,  and  destroyed  each  other; 
so  that,  when  the  Judahites  came  the  next 
day,  they  found  their  dreaded  enemies  all 
dead,  and  nothing  was  left  for  them  but  to 
take  the  rich  spoils  of  the  slain.  This  done, 
they  returned  with  triumphal  songs  to  Jeru- 
salem." 

Such  an  event  as  this  occurring  about  two 

hundred  years  before  Joel's  time  might  well  be 
15* 


346  THE  BATTLE  OF  AliMAGEDDON. 

seized  by  him  as  the  vehicle  of  a  prophetic 
announcement  of  a  future  deliverance,  a  re- 
petition in  another  field,  and  perhaps  not  in 
material  but  in  moral  warfare,  of  the  inter- 
vention of  Divine  power  on  his  people's  be- 
half. But  such  interpretation  puts  far  away 
all  speculation  as  to  the  place  of  the  final 
judgment,  of  which,  probably,  as  of  the  hour, 
no  man  nor  angel  knoweth. 

It  is  wise  to  seek  for  the  meaning  of  pro- 
phetic language  in  the  history  of  the  Old 
Testament.  In  Revelations  xviii.  4,  is  heard 
the  well-known  cry  concerning  New  Testa- 
ment Babylon,  "  Come  out  of  her,  my  people." 
Now,  when  the  Lord  gave  the  Jews  the  power 
to  return  from  the  actual  Babylon,  many  had 
become  so  comfortable  in  the  land  of  their 
captivity  that  they  did  not  remove.  So  the 
prophet  Zechariah  is  instructed,  while  en- 
couraging the  rebuilding  of  the  temple,  to 
call  upon  them  to  come  out  of  Babylon  that 
they  partake  not  of  her  plagues — "  Ho  !  ho  ! 
come  forth,  and  flee  from  the  land  of  the 
North,  saith  the  Lord ;  for  I  have  spread  you 
abroad  as  the  four  winds  of  the  heaven,  saith 


THE  BA  TTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.  347 

the  Lord.  Deliver  thyself,  O  Zion,  that 
dwellest  with  the  daughter  of  Babylon  (Zech. 
ii.  6.  7).  What  is  the  New  Testament  call  but 
a  repetition  of  this  to  the  New  Testament 
Israel ? 

The  faithful  and  consistent  application  of 
this  mode  of  inquiry  would  save  us  many 
errors.  We  should  not,  then,  expect  literal 
Israel  to  be  replaced  in  the  land,  and  to 
vanquish  Moab,  Edom  and  the  Philistines 
in  a  spiritual  sense  (see  Isaiah  xi.  13,  14). 
We  should  see  that,  if  literal  Israel  is  in  ques- 
tion, so  must  literal  Philistines,  Moabites  and 
Ammonites.  But  are  these  nations  to  have 
a  resurrection  ?  It  is  expressly  declared  that 
they  shall  not.  We  should  see  that  Christ  is 
the  New  Testament  David  ;  Zion  His  Church  ; 
His  believing  people  His  Israel ;  the  bringing 
of  men  to  Him  the  enlargement  of  His  king- 
dom ;  and  the  establishment  of  His  fear  in  all 
men's  hearts,  the  universal  sway  of  His 
sceptre,  the  reign  of  righteousness,  the  glad 
Millennium.  We  should  see,  too,  that  it  is 
our  duty  to  labor  to  promote  the  growth  of 
the  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain  without 


348  THE  BATTLE  OF  ARMAGEDDON. 

hands,  till  it  fill  the  earth  ;  and  to  expect  con- 
fidently that  for  which  we  pray  and  labor 
earnestly.  We  should  see  that  Christ  is  to 
sit  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  until  His 
enemies  are  made  His  footstool ;  and  so  we 
should  escape  much  fanciful,  and,  as  we  fear, 
mischievous,  speculation  regarding  the  per- 
sonal advent  of  our  Lord  to  set  up  His  king- 
dom and  introduce  the  Millennium. 


BE  READY  TO  DIE. 


HEN  instant  preparation  for  death  is 
urged  upon  men,  they  too  often 
shake  off  the  obligation  by  recalling 
the  many  nearer,  and  therefore,  as 
they  imagine,  more  pressing,  interests  to 
which  they  must  give  heed.  "  It  is  all  very 
well  to  tell  me  to  prepare  for  what  may  come 
any  moment,  but  here  are  concerns  actu- 
ally on  my  hands  —  visible  and  present  bur- 
dens that  I  must  bear,  and  bear  before  I  take 
up  this  other  affair.  My  wife,  my  children, 
my  business  —  these  must  be  looked  after. 
They  are  not  possibilities,  but  realities,  dis- 
tinct and  tangible.  Excuse  me,  but  I  cannot 
now  relax  my  attention  to  them  for  this  addi- 
tional care,  important  though  I  own  it  to  be." 

(349) 


350  BE  READ  Y  TO  DIE. 

So  many  persons  say  in  their  hearts,  as  they 
do  practically  say  in  their  lives.  Closely  an- 
alyzed, it  comes  to  this  with  them — that,  find- 
ing themselves  in  certain  relations  to  the  crea- 
tures and  the  Creator,  they  put  these  relations 
in  comparison.  The  creatures  are  near  and 
noticeable  by  the  senses  ;  the  Creator  is  in- 
visible and  therefore  thought  to  be  distant, 
or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  treated  as  distant ; 
and  the  interests  of  the  near  and  visible  are 
first  attended  to.  But  there  should  be  no 
such  comparison  made,  or,  if  it  be  made,  it 
should  be  with  the  very  opposite  result.  To 
help  you,  however,  as  far  as  possible,  over 
this  difficult}^,  inseparable,  perhaps,  from  our 
weakness,  let  us  study  the  various  elements 
of  preparation  for  death — such  a  thorough 
preparation  as  will  not  leave  out  of  sight 
what  is  due  to  creature  or  Creator.  That  the 
usual  hindrance  above  alluded  to  may  not 
operate  again,  let  us  consider,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, what  is  due  to  the  creature;  then  we 
shall  be  ready,  with  hearts  free  and  unembar- 
rassed, to  weigh  the  requirements  of  the  Crea- 
tor. 


BE  READY  TO  DIE.  351 

PROVIDE   FOR  DEPENDENTS. 

I.  You  have  some  dear  ones  for  whom  you 
provide  home,  food,  and  comfort.  Your 
death  would  strip  them  of  all  these,  and  leave 
wife  or  child,  parent,  brother,  sister,  or  other 
relative  in  want.  Of  course  nothing  could 
make  up  to  them  for  your  presence  and  affec- 
tion, but  it  is  possible,  in  many  cases,  to  pro- 
vide for  the  evil  day  in  the  matter  of  material 
comforts.  Do  this  as  far  as  possible.  When 
God  does  not  leave  it  in  our  power  to  make 
such  provision,  He  will  undertake  for  them  ; 
but  we  have  no  right  to  put  God's  providence 
in  the  room  of  our  plain  and  commanded  duty. 
Many  good  men  recommend  life  insurance  as 
a  legitimate  and  desirable  course.  The  fore- 
thought, prudence,  self-denial,  and  calcula- 
tion this  course  implies  are  good  in  them- 
selves ;  so  is  the  security  of  feeling  thus  pro- 
cured. If  any  of  you  need  counsel  about  this 
matter,  I  am  sure  there  are  ministers,  elders, 
or  other  friends  who  would  have  pleasure  in 
giving  it,  and  would  be  doing  their  duty  in 


352  BE  READY  TO  DIE. 

aiding  you,  just  as  I  am  doing  mine  in  coun- 
selling you  thus  to  provide  for  your  own. 
To  rescue  the  widow  and  fatherless  from  want 
is  held  to  be  quite  proper  work  for  ministers, 
and  even  for  sermons  from  the  pulpit ;  but 
prevention  is  better  than  cure;  and  when 
means  exist  by  which  those  whose  industry  is 
their  only  property  can  so  invest  a  part  of  it 
that  it  shall  live  after  them,  it  is  culpable  to 
neglect  the  precaution.  As  to  the  doubt 
about  the  morality  of  life  insurance,  I  say 
nothing.  It  has  vanished  with  the  ignorance 
of  which  it  was  the  offspring.  And  surely 
every  man  must  feel  that  the  common  sorrow 
of  the  bereaved  is  heavy  enough  without  hav- 
ing added  to  it  the  misery  of  destitution  or 
dependence.  Let  all  who  have  others  depend- 
ent on  them  make  timely  provision — and  we 
know  no  better  mode  than  this — for  the  sep- 
aration that  death  effects.  It  is  not  human 
prudence,  but  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  says,  by 
Paul  (i  Tim.  v.  8) — "  But  if  any  provide  not 
for  his  own,  and  specially  for  those  of  his  own 
house,  he  hath  denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse 
than  an  infidel." 


BE  READ  V  TO  DIE.  353 


BUSINESS   MANAGEABLE. 

2.  Another  preparatory  step  is  putting  j^our 
business,  where  j^ou  are  so  engaged,  in  an  in- 
telligible and  manageable  form,  so  that,  should 
you  be  removed  from  it  to-morrow,  those  who 
come  after  you  could  gather  up  the  threads  in 
their  hands  and  proceed  without  embarrass- 
ment. But  you  see  great  difficulty  in  this. 
You  cannot,  in  fact,  do  it.  Then  it  is  worth 
considering  whether  you  should  go  into  that 
which,  on  your  removal,  would  be  practically 
useless,  or  even  burdensome,  to  those  who  fol- 
low you.  This,  however,  is  an  advice  of  such 
limited  application  that  one  need  not  dwell 
upon  it.  It  suggests  a  third  step,  too  often 
neglected. 

MAKE   YOUR  WILL. 

3.  Make,  in  due  form,  such  conscientious 
disposal  of  your  affairs  as  will  most  serve 
those  connected  with  3^ou,  and  most  glorify 
God.     How  much  better  to  do  this,  in  calm 


354  BE  READ  V  TO  DIE. 

and  unclouded  moments,  at  leisure  and  at 
peace,  with  friends  at  hand  whom  you  may 
consult,  than  amid  the  agitation  and  alarm  of 
an  illness,  if  the  Lord  should  give  you  even 
such  a  season  of  preparation.  That  you 
should  do  this  without  passion,  caprice,  or  re- 
venge, as  one  solemnly  accountable  to  God, 
is  a  truth  so  obvious,  we  need  not  dwell  upon 
it.  That  it  is  good  to  be  brought  thus  face  to 
face  with  eternity,  to  realize  the  temporary 
nature  of  our  hold  on  our  possessions,  and  to 
contemplate  our  resignation  of  them  into 
other  hands,  might  be  also  argued  from  the 
reluctance  many  men  have  shown  to  make  a 
testamentary  disposal  of  their  affairs. 

REPARATION. 

4.  If  there  be  any  whom  you  have  wrong- 
ed or  injured,  and  to  whom  reparation  is  pos- 
sible, make  that  reparation.  Why  should 
you  carry  thorns  to  your  dying  pillDw,  or 
have  to  regret  that  as  undone  which  you 
might  have  done,  and  can  never  now  attempt? 
It  is  not  only  in  material  things  that  repara- 


BE  READY  TO  DIE.  355 

tion  is  to  be  made,  "  It  must  needs  be  that 
offences  come ;"  and  bitter  words  are  hastily 
spoken  that  bite  like  an  adder.  "  Go,  and  be 
reconciled  to  thy  brother."  Let  your  con- 
science, at  least,  be  clear ;  and  if,  in  word  or 
deed,  you  have  injured  him,  make  what  atone- 
ment is  possible  for  you  to  make.  Evil  done 
to  God,  and  unrepented  of,  is  the  same  as 
evil  persisted  in.  The  same  is  true  of  man. 
If  I  have  injured  another,  and  never  owned 
it  or  repaired  it,  as  far  as  I  could,  I  am  con- 
tinuing the  injury  from  day  to  day.  Do  not 
overlook  this.  Death  itself  is  solemn  and 
awful  enough  without  attendant  bitter  memo- 
ries. The  last  enemy  is  sufficiently  formida- 
ble without  being  accompanied  by  the  spec- 
tre of  wrongs,  the  power  to  right  which  is 
departed  for  ever ! 

And  if,  on  the  other  hand,  there  be  any  to 
whom  you  have  had  kindly  intentions,  put 
them  in  force  yourself  Do  not  put  them 
away  till,  perhaps,  their  realization  is  impossi- 
ble. Be  your  own  executor.  How  pitiable 
it  is  to  see  gifts  bestowed  on  worthy  objects, 
as  men  are  stepping  out  of  this  world  into  the 


356  BE  READY  TO  DIE. 

next,  which  only  serve  to  be  a  bone  of  con- 
tention among  the  survivors !  How  sad  the 
mockery  when  men  grasp  the  means  of  which 
they  are  stewards  with  the  tenacity  of  a  pas- 
sion, and  only  surrender  them  to  their  lawful 
uses  when  they  lose  the  power  to  hold  them, 
as  if  the  Lord's  saying  had  been — "  It  is  more 
blessed  to  retain  than  to  give."  David  dedi- 
cated the  materials  for  the  temple,  and  would 
have  built  it  himself  if  the  Lord  had  permit- 
ted him.  Why  not,  wherever  you  can,  give 
the  seeds  of  goodness  from  your  living  hand, 
and  gladden  your  own  eyes  with  the  rich  and 
ripe  results  ? 

These  elements  of  preparation  .spring  out 
of  our  relations  to  the  creatures.  Now  let  us 
see  what  steps  we  are  to  take  in  consequence 
of  our  relations  to  the  Creator  and  Judge. 
"  There  are  three  persons  in  the  Godhead," 
one  in  purpose  and  in  authority ;  and  to  each 
we  occupy  a  definite  relation.  We  have  been 
rebellious  children  to  our  Father;  we  have 
rejected,  or  crucified  afresh,  or  denied  the 
blessed  Saviour ;  we  have  resisted  or  grieved 
the  Holy  Spirit.     The  unbelieving  have  not 


BE  READY  TO  DIE.  357 

only  done  these  things  ;  they  have  never  done 
anything  else.  All  their  life  has  been  spent  in 
rebelling  against  the  Father,  rejecting  the 
Son,  and  "  doing  despite"  unto  the  Spirit. 
That  they  can  be  ready  to  die  in  this  state  is 
so  plainly  impossible  that  it  needs  no  argu- 
ment. Then,  what  is  the  preparation  for 
death  as  regards  God  ? 

REPENTANCE. 

If  you  conceive  a  case  as  nearly  like  this  as 
possible,  a  child  in  rebellion  against  his  father 
and  seeking  restoration  to  his  favor,  you 
have  the  answer  supplied.  Regret  for  the 
disobedience  and  sincere  reformation  may 
surely  be  set  down  as  obvious  essentials  to  a 
reconciliation.  So  the  Lord  himself  depicts 
it.  The  prodigal  (Luke  xv.  17),  comes  to  him- 
self, resolves  on,  and  makes  confession  of  his 
sin  and  submission  to  his  father,  even  in  the 
lower  place  of  a  servant.  This  is  repentance. 
And  so  the  Saviour  came  to  "  call  sinners  to 
repentance."  (Mat.  ix.  13.)  So,  when  ex- 
plaining Scripture  to  the  disciples,  after  His 


358  BE  READY  TO  DIE. 

resurrection,  He  said  that,  "  repentance  and 
remissions  of  sins  should  be  preached  in  His 
name  among  all  nations,  beginning  at  Jerusa- 
lem." 

Accordingly,  Peter  began  at  Jerusalem  with 
the  very  word  (Acts  ii.  38)  "  Repent,"  and 
Paul  kept  it  up  (Acts  xx.  21),  "testifying  both 
to  the  Jews  and  also  to  the  Greeks  repentance 
toward  God."  If  you,  O  sinner,  would  be 
ready  to  die,  repentance  for  sin  is  an  essential 
part  of  your  preparation.  To  be  without  it, 
is  to  go  into  God's  presence  as  if  in  the  con- 
tinued act  of  sinning.  God  gives  you  space 
to  repent,  and  there  will  be  joy  in  heaven 
among  the  angels  over  you  if  you  do  repent ; 
but,  if  you  do  not,  the  men  of  Nineveh  shall 
rise  up  in  the  judgment  against  you  to  con- 
demn you,  for  they  repented  at  the  preaching 
of  Jonah,  and  a  greater  calls  to  you.  He  up- 
braided Chorazin  and  Capernaum  because 
they  repented  not.  God  is  not  seeking  occa- 
sion against  you,  but  "is  long-suffering  to  us- 
ward  (2  Peter  iii.  9),  not  willing  that  any 
should  perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to  re- 
pentance." 


BE  READ  V  TO  DIE.  359 

O  sinner  \  get  ready  to  die.  God  grant  you 
repentance — such  repentance  as  Paul  and  the 
Gentiles  of  his  time  obtained — "  that  saving 
grace  whereby  a  sinner,  out  of  a  true  sense 
of  his  sin,  and  apprehension  of  the  mercy  of 
God  in  Christ,  doth  with  grief  and  hatred  of 
his  sin,  turn  from  it  unto  God,  with  full  pur- 
pose of  heart,  and  endeavor  after  new  obe- 
dience." 

FAITH. 

There  is,  however,  no  atoning  virtue  in  re- 
pentance. It  is  nothing  —  even  if  it  could 
exist — apart  from  Christ.  Another  element, 
therefore,  is  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
It  goes  with  repentance.  Men  look  to  the 
Pierced  One  and  mourn  (Zech.  xii.  10).  Jesus 
called  on  men  to  believe ;  He  put  the  same 
call  into  His  Apostles'  lips.  That  call  is  ring- 
ing through  the  world  now  more  loudly,  per- 
haps, than  at  any  former  time.  Jesus  offers 
to  be  a  Saviour  for  you.  Accept  His  offer. 
He  undertakes  to  plead  for  you.  Commit 
your  case  to  His  hand.     He  receives  those 


36o  BE  READ  Y  TO  DIE. 

who  go  to  Him.  Do  not  keep  away.  Un- 
seen though  He  be,  He  is  not  far  from  any 
one  of  us.  He  is  nigh  to  us  in  His  promises, 
on  which  we  have  only  to  lay  hold ;  and,  as  a 
bank-note  from  London  is  good  all  over  the 
empire,  His  word  is  sure  to  us  at  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  and  to  the  end  of  time. 

O  sinner !  without  faith  in  Christ,  you  are 
quite  unprepared  to  die.  You  have  neither 
pardon  nor  peace,  neither  righteousness  nor 
strength.  You  never  can  have  them  till  you 
believe  in  Jesus.  You  may  go  on,  but  it  is  ot 
ruin.  The  "  unbelieving"  shall  be  "  in  the 
lake  which  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone." 

We  make  no  separation  in  point  of  time  be- 
tween repentance  and  faith.  They  go  hand 
in  hand  like  feeling  a  sorrow  and  weeping,  or 
believing  a  joyful  piece  of  news  and  rejoic- 
ing. 

LIFE   IN  THE   SPIRIT. 

Nor  can  repentance  and  faith  be  separated 
from  living  in  the  Spirit.  "  If  ye  live  after 
the  flesh  ye  shall  die"  (Rom.  viii.  13).    "  If  any 


BE  READ  V  TO  DIE.  361 

man,"  the  Apostle  had  said  just  before,  *'  have 
not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His." 
Not  having  the  Spirit  is  one  mark,  according 
to  Jude  (19)  of  those  ''  to  whom  is  reserved 
the  blackness  of  darkness  for  ever." 

Now  observe  how  you  stand.  Out  of  the 
very  relations  in  which  you  are  placed  to  the 
creatures,  springs  the  obligation  already  men- 
tioned, if  you  would  set  your  house  in  order. 
Out  of  the  relations  in  which  you  stand  to 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  springs  the  obligation  of  repent- 
ance, faith,  and  fellowship  through  the  Spirit. 
O  dying  sinner !  rise  up  and  get  ready  to 
meet  God.  Here  are  the  requisites.  Take 
them  in  any  order  you  will.  Repent,  believe, 
receive  the  Spirit.  The  Bible  makes  no  ac- 
count of  the  order.  If  you  have  one,  you 
must  have  the  rest.  If  you  want  one,  you 
want  all.  To  be  destitute  of  the  Spirit  is  con- 
demning, awful  evidence  of  being  impenitent 
and  unbelieving.  To  believe  in  Christ  is  sure 
to  bring  repentance.  Do  you  wish  to  have 
faith  ?  "  It  is  the  gift  of  God"  (Eph.  ii.  8). 
Do  you  desire  repentance?  Christ  is  exalted 
16 


362  BE  READ  V  TO  DIE. 

to  give  it  (Acts  v.  31) — yes,  even  to  them  who 
"hanged  Him  on  the  tree."  Dying  sinner! 
your  case  may  be  bad,  but,  if  you  wish  for 
the  Spirit,  by  the  very  zeal  that  moved  you 
to  seek  your  children's  gratification,  God 
represents  to  you  His  willingness  to  "  give 
His  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him"  (Mat. 
vii.  11).  How  did  the  murderers  of  our  Sa- 
viour get  life  ?  Thus :  Christ  received  of  the 
Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost  (Acts 
ii.  33),  and  shed  forth  that  Holy  Ghost  on  the 
hearts  of  that  hard  and  heartless  crowd,  so 
that  they  were  awakened  and  converted. 
There  is  hope  for  you,  O  sinner.  Strive — 
not  with  God,  for  He  is  willing ;  nor  with 
Christ,  for  He  is  the  door ;  nor  with  the 
Spirit,  for  He  is  striving  with  you,  perhaps  in 
these  very  words ;  but  strive  with  your  own 
apathy,  indolence,  and  love  of  sin,  and  enter 
in  at  the  strait  gate.  Oh  !  be  ready,  "  for  in 
such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not,  the  Son  of 
Man  Cometh." 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  guard  you  against 
abusing  the  grace  of  God  and  delaying,  be- 
cause God's  grace  is  so  free,  and  His  saving 


BE  READ  V  TO  DIE.  363 

help  so  promptly  given.  Would  you  wish  to 
snatch  up,  for  the  first  time  on  the  very  battle- 
field, the  armor  in  which  you  are  to  overcome 
the  king  of  terrors  ?  Would  you  not  wish  to 
have  proved  your  w^eapons  beforehand  ?  The 
cables  and  anchors  used  at  sea  are  very  prop- 
erly tested  before  being  given  out.  And  if 
you  will  now  believe  in  Jesus,  you  may  have 
your  religion  tested  before  the  last  strain  is 
put  on  it.  There  are  persons  who  have  test- 
ed it.  "  I  have  been  in  sore  temptations,  and 
my  religion  has  kept  me  from  falling,"  says 
one.  "  I  have  been  in  deep  waters,"  says  an- 
other, "  but  my  religion  saved  me  from  sink- 
ing." "  I  was  even  at  the  gates  of  death," 
says  a  third,  **  and  I  thought  I  should  have 
entered  in.  I  had  no  fear,  nothing  but  a  joy- 
ful, patient  hope,  and 

'  I  can  trust  Him  for  all  the  future  now 
I  have  been  to  the  Border  land.'  " 

Oh !  it  is  something  to  go  to  death  with  a  re- 
ligion tried  and  proved  amid  the  varied  scenes 
of  life.  "  I  hope  this  is  true  repentance,"  said 
an  agonized  man  lately,  as  he  shivered  on  the 


364  BE  READ  Y  TO  DIE, 

brink ;  "  I  heard  a  minister  say  *  late  repent- 
ance is  seldom  true  ;'  "  and  so  he  believed,  but 
trembled.  How  different  from  the  exultant 
shout  of  one  with  whom  the  Lord  Jesus  had 
stood  to  strengthen  him  (2  Tim.  iv.  17)!  "/ 
know  whom  I  have  believed"  (2  Tim.  i.  12). 
Prove  the  Christian  armor  in  life  and  be  fa- 
miliar with  its  use. 

Nor  would  we  quite  leave  out  of  view  that 
there  are  others  besides  the  Divine  Being  in 
the  place  whither  we  proceed.  We  go  "  to 
an  innumerable  company  of  angels."  Minis- 
tering is  their  work.  Let  us  learn  to  minis- 
ter here,  that  we  may  be  ready  for  association 
v.'ith  them  yonder. 

And  if  we  are  to  be  members  of  "  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  and  Church  of  the  first-born  " 
above — if  we  are  to  share  the  felicity  "■  of  the 
spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect,"  should  we 
not  be  in  their  fellowship  below  ?  He  who 
has  repentance  toward  God,  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus,  life  in  the  Spirit — who  has  learnt  to 
minister  as  angels  do — who  has  made  God's 
people  his  people — is  ready  to  die ;  heaven 
will   not   be   strano^e   to    him.     The   arm    on 


BE  READ  V  TO  DIE.  365 

which  he  leans  in  the  dark  valley  is  the  arm 
of  a  long-known  Friend.  The  tones  of  the 
voice  that  whispers  to  his  soul,  ''  Fear  not,  for 
I  am  with  thee,"  are  blessedly  familiar.  He 
is  ready,  quite  ready.  Nay,  if  to-day  the 
heavens  should  open  and  a  light  appear, 
brighter  than  the  sun's,  gradually  approach- 
ing earth,  and  unfolding  the  great  white 
throne,  he  should  lift  up  his  head  with  joy, 
K;nowing  that  his  redemption,  complete  and 
eternal,  had  drawn  nigh. 


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